Bathinda, February 21
Tension came to the fore in the BJP, when the party’s district president accused two BJP and RSS loyalist brothers of manhandling and making an attempt to kidnap him.

The accused, Harsh Aggarwal and Jawahar Aggarwal, are executive officers with the municipal council, Talwandi Sabo and Improvement Trust, Nabha, respectively.

According to details available from party sources, Narender Mittal, district BJP president and Harsh Aggarwal, party vice-president, whom Mittal claims was expelled a year back were involved in a brawl at a wedding on Goniana road on Friday night.

While narrating the incident, Mittal said he was attending the party, when Harsh and Jawahar, along with their friends, attempted to kidnap him. His son Rajat Mittal suffered bruises but due to the intervention of the people, the accused fled.

According to sources, later at midnight, following a call by Mittal, his kin assaulted the Aggarwal brothers at their residence.

On the basis of the statement of Rajat Mittal, the Nehianwala police booked Harsh, Jawahar and some unidentified persons for hurting him. Jawahar was arrested at midnight and was out on bail in the morning but Harsh was still at large.

The Mittal faction, making it prestige issue, held a meeting at Bhana Mal Trust inn, where BJP workers were also present and accused the police of taking inappropriate action, demanding that they should be booked for attempt to kidnap. They also decided to lodge protest with Deputy CM Sukhbir and Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, who will be in the city on Sunday.

Later in the evening, both parties reached the residence of SSP Ashish Chaudhary having sought an appointment with him. But finding him absent, the Mittal faction returned. After one-and-a-half hours, when the SSP arrived, Jawahar and his supporters narrated their plight to him.

After coming out, Jawahar told TNS that he was not involved in the clash. He accepted that Harsh and Narender had a scuffle but added that Narender’s brother, Rajinder Mittal and his men barged into their house at midnight and assaulted them, and thrashed a female member, in the presence of the police staff.

When contacted, SSP Ashish Chaudhary said, “We came to know about the scuffle between both the parties at the residence of Aggarwal in Naamdev Nagar. I was crossing the place so I stopped there and within a few minutes, the policemen reached there.”

The SSP denied any involvement of the police in assaulting Aggarwal and said the case was being investigated in detail.

Bathinda, February 21
The TB Association of India and District Health Society Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) is organising TB Awareness Week in Bathinda district from February 17.

A programme in this connection was held today at the Teachers’ Home here, in which NGOs and community volunteers working for the control of TB took part.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Rakesh Kumar Gupta, district programme officer and J.R. Goyal, secretary Red Cross Society, Bathinda, said that more than 2,000 patients were benefiting through DOTS programme in the district. Altogether 154 patients got free treatment in January, 2009, Gupta added.

Gupta appealed that anyone suffering from cough for more than two weeks must get oneself checked at a health centre. If diagnosed for TB, free treatment under RNTCP would be provided, he added.

Krishan Kumar, STS, and Sonu Goyal, CF, discussed other IEC activities going in the district.

Bathinda, February 21
"It's a case of a national party versus a family party," said Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Raninder Singh, here for a mass contact programme at Parasram Nagar, today.

Claiming that his ward-wise meetings received a good response from the people, Raninder also clarified that his campaigning for the party did not mean that his getting the ticket for the Bathinda Lok Sabha (LS) seat was a certainty.

He said he was here primarily as the party's general secretary but added that while other Congmen would also be in contention, he was hopeful of getting the party ticket for the Bathinda seat.

Raninder also said his party would present a united front in the election. He said local MLA Harminder Singh Jassi was with him during his visit. In fact, seven MLAs from the area, barring Jeet Mohinder, who is away in Dehradun due to personal reasons, have been accompanying him.

Clarifying that it was just a party programme and not a political rally, Raninder said he was confident of the Congress increasing its vote share from 14 per cent in the 2004 elections. "The disenchantment of the people with this coercive regime is all too obvious," said Raninder, adding that deployment of paramilitary forces in the polls would preclude the possibility of the Punjab Police being used by the ruling dispensation to serve its purposes.

The PPCC general secretary has visited seven constituencies in the first phase of his mass contact programme. "We have just started in Bathinda," Raninder said. Party sources later informed that as many as 34 Akali Dal workers joined the Congress fold today in his presence.

Jagroop Singh Gill, councillor, ward number 44, had organised the programme.

Bathinda, February 21
The All India Radio, Bathinda, will broadcast a special (phone-in-live) programme for the students of class X tomorrow, i.e., Sunday, from 4 pm to 5 pm. In this programme, a panel of senior teachers will give special tips to the students on how to perform better in Board exams.

The Board exams would commence from March 4. The team of expert teachers will also answer the queries of students during the live broadcast. The students may forward their queries on phone number 0164-2240331.

The said programme will be available on FM band 101.1 mega hertz. — TNS

Moga/Ferozepur, February 21
A man allegedly killed his second wife at the village Mattar Hithaar near Mamdot in Ferozepur district on Friday night. Police said Joginder Singh, a marginal farmer, had allegedly murdered his second wife Sumitra Rani (27) with a ‘kassi.’

Sources said that for the past couple of years they used to quarrel over trivial issues. However, there was no dispute between Sumitra and her husband’s first wife Kaushalya Devi, who was also living in the same house.

Joginder solemnised his second marriage with Sumitra about seven years back with the ‘permission’ of Kaushalya, who did not have any child even after many years of marriage. Sumitra has left behind a six-year-old child.

Police registered a case under section 302 of the IPC against Joginder Singh on the basis of the statement of Bohar Singh, his elder brother, who was an eyewitness to the incident.

Moga/Ferozepur, February 21
A milkman, Darshan Singh, was allegedly killed on Friday evening by some unidentified persons at village Bhagike in Nihalsinghwala sub-division.

His brother Hardayal Singh found the body of Darshan lying on a roadside.

As per the post-mortem report, Darshan died due to head injuries.

Preliminary investigations by the police have revealed that Darshan Singh might have been severely beaten to death.

The cause of the murder could not be ascertained yet. Police has registered case in this regard. — TNS