Kapurthala, March 15
In an alleged violation of model code of conduct, two Congress municipal councillors Namdev Arora and Satpal Mehra distributed stitching machines and suits to the needy women during a function held at a temple here on Sunday.

The Congress councillors are reportedly close to Jalandhar MP Rana Gurjit Singh, who is ready to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Khadur Sahib under which Kapurthala Assembly constituency also falls.

Arora and Mehra gave away as many as 20 suits and three stitching machines to different women at the function held at local Janki Nath Mandir.

When contacted, Namdev Arora admitted that they had distributed stitching machines and suits to the women during function at the temple.

At the same time, he said he had attended the function as chief guest, it was a religious function and politics had nothing to do with it.

He further claimed that distribution of stitching machines and suits did not amount to violation of code of conduct as the temple authorities had been helping the needy women in this way since last several years. Meanwhile, Kapurthala deputy commissioner-cum-district returning officer Raj Kamal Chaudhury said he would get the entire matter examined and appropriate action would be taken there after.

Nawanshahr, March 15
Local SAD and BJP leaders have raised objection over the supply of a GK book with a photograph of Rahul Gandhi on its back and supplied by Saint Joseph Convent School, Mallpur, terming it as a violation of model code of conduct.

The book published by Chopra Associates, Ludhiana, has been supplied to the UKG students by the school. On its back, there are photographs of Olympic champion Abinav Bindra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and some temples.

“Besides being a violation of model code of conduct during the LS poll, there is no logic behind publishing the picture of a political leader on the cover of a KG standard book,” the leaders, including District Planning Committee chairman Jaswinder Singh Anokherwal, SGPC member Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, councillor Param Singh Khalsa, said.

They asked that in which capacity the picture of Rahul Gandhi had been published on the book. “The photographs of Abinav Bindra and temples are related with general knowledge, but Rahul Gandhi does not occupy any important post or position in government but just represents a particular political party,” said Shanker Duggal, a youth SAD leader adding that he had even made a telephonic call to the publisher but got no satisfactory answer from him.

A complaint of violation of model code of conduct would be filed before the deputy commissioner as well as the State Election Commission against the school and the publisher, said the SAD-BJP leaders.

No official from the school office or the publisher of the book could be contacted.

Jalandhar, March 15
The BSP would give a direct fight to the Congress and the BJP in the state, claimed party national general secretary Narender Kashyap, who is also the in charge of party affairs in Punjab.

Kashyap, who was here to pay tributes to former BSP supremo late Kanshi Ram today, said the party has declared its candidates on all 12 seats except Gurdaspur.

He said the party had strengthened its position in Punjab in the last few years. On the question of Third Front, he said the BSP could accommodate the front only after the decision of a high-level committee of the party.

He clearly refused fielding France-based NRI Iqbal Singh Bhatti as a candidate from the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency. 

The candidate would be finalised in two days, he added. Kashyap was accompanied by Punjab BSP president Avtar Singh Karimpuri and party candidate from Jalandhar Surjit Singh.

Amritsar, March 15
Activists of the Kissan Sangharsh Committee (KSC) burnt effigies of the central and state governments and blocked vehicular traffic at Chogawan, Patti and Sarhali Kalan in Tarn Taran today. 

Holding banners and raising slogans, the agitating farmers blamed both governments for pursuing anti-farmer policies.

They demanded that cases registered against farmers during protests be revoked, all advances to farmers be written off and the Electricity Act, 2003, be cancelled so that the PSEB could not be privatised.

Pannu recalled that as per the agreement reached between the state government and farmers on June 30, 2007, it was decided that bills of farm tube pumps worth Rs 100 crore would be waived off and cases registered against them during protests would also be cancelled. 

However, he rued, that even after passing of two years nothing had been done in the direction. — TNS