New Delhi, March 7
Chiselling its strategy for Haryana, the BJP has made it clear to its workers and leaders of the state unit that the forthcoming electoral battle should not be projected as a regional-level fight between Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Om Prakash Chautala. The projection has to be of a BJP-Congress fight and also a fight to choose between LK Advani and Manmohan Singh.

Sources in the BJP said a meeting was conducted on Thursday night in the NCR region. The BJP is in an alliance with Chautala’s INLD in Haryana where the two parties are likely to contest five seats each of the 10 seats. The BJP is asking for a sixth seat.

On the agenda for the polls, the BJP feels that the target should be the UPA government followed by Hooda and his policies, not the other way round. The BJP sources said “it seems that Hooda is trying to turn it into a fight between himself and Chautala”. The BJP will project an Advani-Manmohan or Advani-Sonia fight. The party also feels that it has to be a mix of national and regional issues and not just regional issues.

Meanwhile, a final decision on seat sharing between the BJP and the INLD is expected in the next two-three days. This time the acrimony of the past is missing. Ajay Chautala, INLD general secretary, told The Tribune “We have learnt from past experiences and this time it will be more successful.”

In 1999, the alliance won all 10 seats in Haryana. In the last Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won all seats expect Sonepat where BJP’s Kishan Singh Sangwan won.

This time the BJP is likely to contest the Ambala, Karnal, Sonepat, Faridabad and Gurgaon seats. The BJP also wants the Jat-dominated Rohtak seat. The INLD is likely to contest Sirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Kurukshetra seats.

A senior BJP leader confirmed that the party was demanding the Rohtak seat and Capt Abhimanyu could be the possible candidate.

Sirsa, March 7
The CPM virtually kicked off its poll campaign for the forthcoming parliamentary elections during a state-level rally of the Haryana unit of the All-India Kisan Sabha, a front organisation of the party, here today.

The CPM has already announced to contest the Sirsa parliamentary seat and has announced the name of Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria as its candidate. Though the occasion of the rally was the inauguration of a two-day conference of delegates of the All-India Kisan Sabha, the tone and tenor of the speakers left no one in doubt about the electoral overtones of the rally.

Amara Ram, national vice-president, Nand Kishore Shukla, general secretary, Lahmbar Singh Taggar, secretary, Phool Singh Sheokand, state president, Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, vice-president, Harpal Singh, state secretary, and Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria, CPM’s candidate for the Sirsa parliamentary constituency, addressed the rally. The speakers also accused the state government of failing to provide remunerative price to farmers for crops and said farmers were being exploited in connivance with the government.

Sirsa, March 7
The congregation heat of Chandpura in Fatehabad has now shifted to Jhorar Rohi village in this district with Sant Baljit Singh Dadu of Dadu Sahib Gurdwara announcing a religious “dewan” in the village gurdwara on March 11 and March 12.

The authorities are apprehensive of fresh dera-Sikh clashes due to the congregation as the number of Dera Sacha Sauda followers residing in the village and the surrounding areas is quite substantial.

Moving swiftly after the announcement, the district authorities today banned the entry of Dadu into the district.

The organisers of the congregation, however, maintained that the programme would be held as per schedule notwithstanding the orders of the authorities and Dadu will also address the religious “dewan.”

Dadu has also maintained that he would address the congregation and said the event would not threaten the peace of the area.

He said he did not need anyone’s permission to enter Sirsa as he is a permanent resident of the district and his Dadu Sahib Gurdwara was situated in this district.

Deputy Commissioner SK Goyal today headed a meeting of the peace committee in the local Panchayat Bhawan, which was attended by SP Subhash Yadav, SDM Rakesh Yadav, DSP Satbir Sheoran and members of the committee.

The authorities issued an order after the meeting, which said the panchayat of the village had approached the district authorities expressing apprehension of breach of peace due to the congregation.

The organisers of the congregation had also moved an application demanding security for the event. The order said a report on this was sought from the police.

The police report listed a number of criminal cases pending against Dadu and said he “delivers inflammatory speeches” thereby flaring up religious sentiments, which, if allowed, could endanger the peace and tranquility of the area.

“We have decided to ban the entry of Dadu into the district,” Goyal said after the meeting. The Deputy Commissioner has also rejected the application of the organisers seeking security for the congregation.

The Deputy Commissioner has also constituted an 11-member peace sub-committee, which has been assigned the task of meeting villagers and persuading them to ensure peace and if possible cancel the congregation.

Karnal, March 7
The ongoing agitation of students of the Doon Valley Institute of Engineering and Technology for refund of money collected by the institute in the name of organising job fest got a boost with the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Gramin Yuva Sena coming out openly in support of the students.

State working committee member Shamsher Nain warned that the ABVP would burn an effigy of the management if it remained adamant on not conceding to the demand of students to refund the money. Students of BTech (III&IV year), MBA and MCA boycotted classes on Tuesday in protest. However, it has now snowballed into a major issue.

The students alleged that the management had collected Rs 900 from each student for organising a job fest in December 2008 but the consultant company, Afslex Technology, backed out.

The students said the management was reluctant to refund the money amounting to Rs 8 lakh.

Refuting the charge of students, principal of the institute Harish Abhichandani said the money collected from the students had already been paid to the consulting agency and it had already held a written test and interviews for students. It had also issued scorecards to students to get them suitable placements.

“I have offered students to see receipts of the money paid to the consultant agency, but they are not amenable to the reason and as they do not want to appear in the session tests beginning from today”, he alleged.

He said the job fest had been deferred and not called off. The consultant agency had said due to economic recession, employer companies were not going in for recruitments and the situation was expected to improve in the next financial year paving way for holding job fest in April, he claimed. 

Faridabad, March 7
Three Maruti car-borne miscreants opened fired on an employee of a private firm in a bid to snatch away a purse from him, but failed in their mission.

The victim, an employee of a company located in Palli Crusher Zone, had come to Sector 15 here to collect Rs 50,000 from a client of his firm. He was on on a motorcycle.

As soon as he collected the money and left the place, he was attacked by the car-borne miscreants. The incident happened just a few metres away from the residence from where he had collected the money.

The victim tried to flee but was chased by the criminals. However, he did not part with the purse despite the criminals firing three rounds and injuring him.

Hearing the gunshots, residents of the area came out of their houses and found the employee bleeding profusely. Sensing trouble, the criminals had fled from the scene by then. The employee was taken to a hospital and is said to be out of danger. The police has registered a case.