Dehradun, April 18
Vijay Bahuguna, Congress candidate from Tehri Garhwal, got a shot in the arm today as Rajni Rawat, an eunuch who had floated her own political outfit named Rashtriya Jankranti Party, joined the Congress and extended her support to Bahuguna.

Rajni Rawat, the head eunuch of Dehradun, had shot to fame in the civic elections in April 2008. Contesting as a mayoral candidate, Rajni Rawat had turned the civic elections in Dehradun city into a colourful event.

To the surprise of everyone, she stood second pushing the official Congress candidate to the third spot by capturing 44,000 votes.

Charging the ruling party with rigging polls, Rajni Rawat decided to plunge into full- fledged politics and formed her own political outfit named Rashtriya Jankranti Party.

She had started preparations to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Tehri Garhwal parliamentary constituency.

Earlier, by jumping into the electoral fray as a candidate to become the mayor of Dehradun, Rajni Rawat in April last had given sleepless nights to the candidates of major political parties and led to the humiliation of the official Congress candidate.

This prompted the Congress poll managers to win her over. But it was not without hiccups. The press conference called by Uttarakhand Congress was over but there was no trace of Rajni Rawat much to the consternation of senior Congress leaders.

After an hour, Rajni Rawat came much to the relief of Congress leaders particularly
Vijay Bahuguna.

Rajni Rawat announced that her sole aim has been to serve the people of the state and the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has cheated the people.

“They have done nothing. They even rigged the mayoral elections to defeat
me,” she said.

She said that for the past one year, she had been visiting every corner of Tehri Garhwal constituency and found that sitting Congress MP Vijay Bahuguna has done a lot of work including opening of hydroelectric college at Tehri, special package of Rs 149 crore for Tehri dam oustees, survey of Dehradun-Kalsi railway line and backward class status to the people of Jaunpur areas.

“This prompted me to support Vijay Bahuguna in the national interest. I announce
to not only join the Congress but campaign aggressively for Bahuguna to defeat
the BJP,” she said.

An elated Vijay Bahuguna said that he was overwhelmed by the gesture and considers Rajni Rawat as his own sister.

“I now have two sisters, Reeta Bahuguna Joshi, the Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief, and Rajni Rawat,” he said.

He also announced that he would be personally responsible for the political rehabilitation of Rajni Rawat in the future.

Dehradun, April 18
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders today claimed that there was no threat to the Uttarakhand government and ruled out any possibility of mid-term polls in the state.

Asserting that BJP enjoyed the support of two Independent MLAs and three UKD legislators, co-incharge of BJP Uttarakhand affairs Dr Anil Jain said that it was false propaganda by the Congress that the BJP government may crumble.

Dr Jain said that the resignation of the Urban Development Minister Diwakar Bhatt, who is a UKD MLA, is the internal matter of the UKD and has nothing to do with the withdrawal of support.

“The BJP and UKD are alliance partners in the state government and there are no differences between the two parties,” he claimed. He asserted that the BJP government in the state would complete its term.

Taking the Congress to task, Dr Jain said that after polling for the first phase of the elections, it appeared that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party and the NDA seemed all set to form the next government.

“The party’s performance in Uttar Pradesh is likely to improve considerably,” he said. The BJP leader added that in wake of the spurt in terror attacks during the UPA regime, the electorate must vote the UPA out of power.

Dr Jain said that the UPA repealed POTA and that boosted the morale of the terrorists. “Central intelligence agencies have failed to alert the state governments before terror attacks or serial bomb blasts,” he rued.

He admitted that some terror attacks, including the attack on Parliament, did occur during the NDA regime. But the NDA took swift and strong action against the guilty.

On the issue of the Afzal Guru, convicted by the Supreme Court in the Parliament attack case, Dr Jain said that the UPA is deliberately delaying the execution of Afzal for vote bank politics.

“But in reality, the delay in the execution of Afzal is a matter of disrespect for patriotic Muslims,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Manujendra Vikram Shah, the King of the Tehri royal dynasty, today clarified that he was supporting the BJP and had no difference over the party’s decision to field ace shooter Jaspal Rana from the Tehri parliamentary constituency.

Haridwar, April 18
Electioneering in Haridwar constituency is slowly and steadily gaining momentum with parties resorting to door-to-door campaigns and road shows.

Samajwadi Party candidate Ambrish Kumar, who is also the state party chief, today visited various colonies in the city. Prior to that he performed rituals at Har-Ki-Pauri along with his supporters.

Congress workers are relying heavily on door-to-door campaigns to convey their election manifesto and seek votes for its candidate Harish Rawat.

A team led by city Congress chief OP Chauhan visited various parts of the city today, including Kathara Bazaar, Jwalapur area and Sector 2.

“The response of the people is very positive,” said Poonam Bhagat, secretary organization, Mahila Congress.

Accompanying the group were Purushottam Sharma, JP Pandey, Naeem Quereshi, Ramesh Singh, Paras Kumar Jain, among others.

Harish Rawat’s son Anand Rawat is also campaigning aggressively and organising small gatherings to lure voters.

Veteran Congress leader Babu Virendra Singh Chauhan also inaugurated a new election office at Bahadrabad bus stand.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has decided to support the BJP candidate
from Haridwar.

A meeting in this regard was held between BJP organisation general secretary Naresh Bansal, Roorkee legislator Suresh Chand Jain, Haridwar party candidate Swami Yatindranand Giri, Rashtriya Lok Dal state chief Rishipal, Baliyan district chief Anant Pratap Singh Saini and vice- president Chaudhari Pal Singh, after which the decision was taken.

Indian Muslim League candidate Rao Asghar Khan too has increased his campaigning tempo by focusing specially on rural areas and villages. He was welcomed at several places in Roorkee by party workers and villagers.

After resignation of cabinet minister Diwakar Bhatt, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal
candidate Raj Kumar Saini has said he would now campaign in Haridwar, where
he has a considerable hold.

As far as the Bahujan Samaj Party is concerned, their activists are eagerly awaiting Mayawati’s rally in Rishikul on May 11, where she would be seeking votes in favour of party candidate Mohammed Shahzad.

Haridwar, April 18
After a weeklong suspense on the issue of closing of Ganga canal for a fortnight, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand officials have finally decided not to stop the Ganga water flow.

The scheduled Ganga canal closure at Har-ki-Pauri and other adjacent areas to facilitate construction of a bridge near Damkoti state guest house parallel to the older bridge, under Maha Kumbh 2010 project, has been taken back following opposition from all quarters and sections of society.

This canal closure issue was becoming a political issue and no party wants to take any risk especially at the time when parliamentary elections are going on.

After several rounds of high-level talks between Uttarakhand and UP government officials, it was decided not to stop the flow of canal.

Initially, the proposed date of the canal closure was scheduled from April 15 to April 30 but due to the delay from the UP government, it was decided to close the canal from April 20.

Following intense opposition by all political parties, various religious and social organisations, Ganga Sabha and especially the farmers, the authorities have decided not to stop the flow.

Naveen Kumar, executive engineer, northern division, Ganga canal, said the decision was taken considering the ongoing harvesting season as the problems of farmers would aggravate as there will be scarcity of water for irrigation.

Also as tourist season has just started with the Char Dham yatra, it will be
detrimental to the pilgrims, tourists when they will see no water at important
places such as Har-ki-Pauri.

Interestingly, the Ganga closure issue had rocked the whole district and taken a
political turn too.

Though the Congress, the BJP, the BSP, the SP and the UKD might be locking horns in the election field, but on this water closure issue, all were one and against the closure of the Ganga canal.

Congress candidate Harish Rawat had warned the administration of severe implications if the canal water was be closed from April 20 onwards.

Swami Yatindranand Giri, a BJP candidate too voiced his thoughts on the issue and termed it as anti-farmer decision.

Ambrish Kumar, Samajwadi Party candidate had termed it as an ill thought and had warned of agitation if UP government gave its nod to the closure plan.

Ganga Mahasabha, president Ram Kumar Mishra has expressed satisfaction over the back tracking of Ganga canal closure decision.

He said it is a right decision otherwise lakhs of people would have been disappointed and traders and purohits would have suffered a lot in this peak season.

Bharaitya Kissan Union (BKU) and Kissan Morcha have also taken back their agitation after the decision.

Even Mohammed Shahzad, a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Haridwar, said he is totally against the closure and had talks with Mayawati in this regard and eventually his views were accepted.

Uttar Pradesh government controls about 1,382 hectares of irrigation land and other canals in Haridwar area of Uttarakhand, which often creates confusion and bring both the states at loggerheads.

Notably, Ganga canal is only closed for a fortnight from the festive season of
Dussehra to Deepawali every year to clean the canal and thereby utilise the
closure in maintaining the ghats.

Meanwhile, the Mela administration and working agency Public Work Department is chalking out other alternatives to carry out bridge work without stopping the flow of water as they have to meet the deadline of October 2010.

Mussoorie, April 18
The dream of a South Asian University is expected to be realised by 2010. The third Inter-Governmental Steering Committee meeting for establishment of a university at the South-Asian level concluded here on Thursday.

In the meeting, several important decisions were taken, including a decision on the funding mechanisms for the university, adoption of a logo and review of the rules and regulations, charter and other legal documents pertaining to the university.

Sixteen participants representing Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan participated in the deliberations at Mussoorie.

The meeting was organised under the chairmanship of Prof GK Chaddha, former Vice Chancellor of JNU and CEO for this initiative.

The university, which is regarded as the brainchild of PM Manmohan Singh who had first proposed the idea at the 13th SAARC summit in Dhaka, is expected to hold its first academic session by 2010.

The general feeling among the participants at this meeting was that the upcoming university would greatly facilitate the upgrading and sharing of knowledge and skills amongst the students from SAARC countries.

Moreover, the university is also being viewed as a symbol of South Asian collaboration and a step towards promotion of mutual cooperation in the region.

“This initiative would ultimately contribute towards building developed and peaceful South Asia,” remarked one of the participants.

The main campus of the South Asian university will be hosting nearly 5,000 students from SAARC countries and an international faculty.

It will be located at New Delhi. It will also have linked campuses in other South
Asian countries.

“Movement is more important than people, though it was formed to channelise the energies of the youth. Every year new members brimming with ideas join us strengthening the movement. I am sure when the time comes, there would be a second line of leadership eager to take it forward,” added Dr Seth.

Dehradun, April 18
Wood Stock School, Welham Boys, Doon International School and St George College won their respective matches at 23rd Golden Jubilee Basketball Tournament underway at Welham Boys School, here today.

Woodstock School Mussoorie outclassed Welham Boys School (W) in the first match of the day by 33-8.

In the first quarter, Wood Stock School, scored 9 points, whereas Welham Boys (W) could not open its account.

In the second quarter, Woodstock scored four points and Welham Boys (W) could only manage to scorer three points.

In the next two quarters, Woodstock scored another 20 points taking their final score to 33 points.

In the second match of the day, Welham Boys (B) School won against Wynberg Allen Mussoorie by 29-20.

In the first half, Welham Boys (B) scored 18 points, whereas Wynberg Allen could only score 12 points.

In the last two quarters, Welham Boys (B) scored 11 points to take their score talley to 29 points.

Wynberg Allen could only score 8 points in the final two quarter to take their score to 20 points. Rishab was the top scorer for Welham Boys (B) School.

In the third match, Doon International School outclassed Raja Ram Mohan Roy 58-28. For Doon International, Shavin was the top scorer with 15 points.

In the fourth match, St Georges College Mussoorie beat The Doon School by 35-29 points. Raghav was the top scorer for the team with 12 points.

Dehradun, April 18
Doon Public School, Bhaniyawala, and Brooklyn School in the boys section and Carman School, Dalanwala, in the girls section won their respective matches at the 14th Gardener Inter-School Indoor Cricket (Boys and Girls) Tournament underway at St Thomas College here today.

The first match was played between Carman School and St Jude School in the girls section. St Jude School scored 71 runs in 12 overs. Vishakha was the top scorer with 10 runs.

Chasing the target of 72 runs, Carman School reached the target with five wickets in hand. Akshra was the top scorer with 23 runs.

In the boys section, Doon Public School defeated the Aryan School. Batting first, the Aryan School could manage only 54 runs off 12 overs.

Vipul was the top scorer with 14 runs. Doon Public School overcame the target with six wickets in hand. Pratul was the top scorer for the team with 13 runs.

In the third match, Brooklyn School outplayed St Joseph’s Academy by six wickets. Batting first, St Joseph’s Academy scored a meagre 35 runs in their allotted 12 overs. Sahil was the top scorer for the team with six runs.

Brooklyn School reached the target with six wickets in hand. Kaushal was top scorer for the team with 10 runs.