Tarn Taran, April 20
The Congress will welcome an amicable resolution of the Dera Sacha Sauda-Sikh issue as it will help creating a permanent thaw in the border state, said Capt Amarinder Singh, chairman, Congress campaign committee, to the media here today.

He was in the town to address an election rally in the Panthic area organised in favour of party candidate from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency Rana Gurjit Singh.

Sounding a warning to the SAD, the former Chief Minister said elections could not be won by violence as people knew the language of love and peace. He said the Congress would not allow the SAD-BJP to indulge in violence in the elections. The Election Commission had been urged to deploy central forces for polling.

Amarinder said the Badals, instead of working for the welfare of people, were only interested in promoting family interests. He claimed that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had become a puppet in the hands of his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, a novice in governing a state. He said now they had fielded Harsimrat Kaur from Bathinda who had no experience or contribution in social and public fields.

The former CM announced if the Congress won all 13 Lok Sabha seats, the SAD-BJP government would fall in two weeks after the elections as there was resentment among SAD MLAs and the equation with the alliance partner BJP was not so good. He claimed that many Taksali Akalis were feeling ignored by the Badals and ready to join the Congress.

Earlier, addressing a rally, Rana Gurjit said Afghanistan-like situation prevailed in the border belt as the area was without drinking water, electricity, roads and other amenities. He alleged involvement of influential leaders of the ruling party in drug smuggling and added that he would take up the matter with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence after the elections.

Lal Singh, PPCC working pesident, lashed out at heads of political parties like Lalu Prasad of the RJD, Mayawati of the BSP and Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP who had lust for power. He claimed a wave in favour of the Congress. 

Bathinda, April 20
There is no Akali pressure on Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his followers. They are free to vote for anyone in the Lok Sabha elections, says Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Badal said no senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader had met the Dera chief for votes.

Addressing an election rally at Partap Nagar here, he sought votes for SAD candidate and his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal, particularly from those who did not support the party in the last Assembly elections. His reference was to Dera followers who went with the Congress resulting in rout of the SAD in the Malwa belt.

Badal, who addressed a series of election rallies in the town since 9.30 am as this constituency witnesses prestigious contest between his daughter-in-law Harsimrat and Raninder Singh, son of Amarinder Singh, did not show signs of fatigue.

Even by adhering to schedule of day-long travel and addressing election rallies, he gets up before sunrise and finishes morning routine by 7 am followed by breakfast and having quick feedback from party activists.

Badal is punctual and was in time to address the first election rally at Guru Nanak Nagar at 9.30 am. His other eight rallies culminated at 8.30 pm at Bangi Nagar in the heart of the old town. He took break of 90 minutes at 2 pm when he drove to the residence of Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman for lunch and nap before setting out to address election rallies in other wards.

Badal has visited each of the 50 wards of the municipal corporation here in a three-day campaign before leaving for other constituencies. He will return here on April 25 to for campaign.

He does not indulge in mud-slinging on the Cong, but accuses it of providing “unfair” treatment to Punjab.

Jalandhar, April 20
Congress general-secretary Rahul Gandhi has used his influence to allot party tickets in March to three youths out of total 13 Parliamentary seats in Punjab for the upcoming elections, as he had chosen Punjab for the initiation of holding elections for its state youth wing in December last year.

The three candidates of Rahul’s personal choice are president of the Punjab Youth Congress Ravneet Singh Bittu, its former chief Vijay Inder Singla and its general-secretary Sukhwinder Singh Danny, who are trying their luck for the first time from Anandpur Sahib, Sangrur and Faridkot (SC) Parliamentary seats respectively.

While Rahul made it a point to give proper representation to women and Scheduled Castes in the state Youth Congress by reserving three posts of the district presidents for women and SCs each out of 24 political districts of Punjab, he ignored “may be inadvertently” women by not giving even a single ticket to any young woman out of the three seats of the Youth Congress quota.

While one of the three candidates of his choice, Sukhwinder Singh Danny is SC and belongs to Valmiki community, both Bittu and Singla belong to general categories.

It is pertinent to mention here that the post of the presidents of three political districts of Jalandhar urban, Sangrur (for SC woman) and Ropar were reserved for the women whereas those of Jalandhar rural, Ludhiana rural and Patiala urban were reserved for SCs during the Punjab Youth Congress’s elections.

President of the Jalandhar Urban Youth Congress Kamaljeet Kaur Multani expressed her gratitude to Rahul Gandhi for giving three tickets to youths for the Parliamentary elections for the first time and expressed hope that he would definitely take care of the women during the next Assembly elections in Punjab.

Similarly, the president of Jalandhar urban Mahila Congress Jasleen Sethi said the Congress general-secretary had given a clear signal by allotting three tickets to youths that they would be provided proper representation in the next elections. At the same time, Sethi said Rahul had not alloted any ticket to women from the Youth Congress quota, as most probably no woman applied for the ticket or expressed her intention for the same. 

Garhshankar, April 20
Termed a greenhorn in politics by rivals, Congress candidate from the Anandpur Sahib constituency Ravneet Singh Bittu easily strikes a chord with people in his campaign.

He bows to touch feet of the elderly and extends both hands to shake with young party workers and supporters, the 33-year-old state Youth Congress president is humility when he goes to address rallies in the day in villages in Garhshankar Assembly segment of this constituency.

Bittu moves with his team carrying hi-tech gadgets. Young men carry video and still cameras to shoot him campaigning, guys taking note of speeches, contact numbers of visitors and uploading the same on laptops. “The Election Commission has restricted the use of SMSes for sending across messages for campaign. So, we had to think of other ways,” the young brigade accompanying him says.

“More than 60 per cent voters in this constituency is youth. And youngsters are getting net-savvy. To reach out to them, we have started making use of youtube. We have been posting all prominent videos of Bittu, including those of his winning the youth polls, rallies with Amarinder Singh and his visit to Keshgarh Sahib on youtube,” said Amandeep, member, Patiala Youth Congress.

He added, “We have prepared a video CD highlighting the contributions of former Punjab CM Beant Singh, grandfather of Bittu, old pictures and Bittu’s dreams for the welfare of people of his constituency. We have been showing it on projectors in villages adding latest clippings of his contact programme. There are over 1,800 villages in the constituency and Bittu cannot reach out everywhere. But we make sure his video gets shown at most of the places where he cannot reach”.

Patiala, April 20
Describing the SAD-BJP rule as ‘goonda raj’, the Congress Campaign Committee chairman Capt. Amarinder Singh has predicted that the combine government will fall within two weeks after declaration of poll results on May 16 due to “intensive fight and ongoing power struggle within the SAD itself”.

In the same breath, Amarinder also said Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s fate would be like that of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who had suffered at the hands of his own people towards the fag end of his days.

Addressing a poll rally at Bhadson near here, Amarinder made all efforts to cash in on issues of erratic power supply and alleged delay in procurement of foodgrains, particularly wheat, at some places in Punjab. “People are suffering at the hands of the present SAD-BJP regime, whereas, we had ensured atleast eight hour daily supply of power even during summers and no farmer had to wait for purchase of foodgrains. People still remember candidly as to how they had no problems in purchase of 10 crops during our government. Badal is trying to befool people of the state but his efforts would not get success as voters are already aware about what is going on in the state,” said Amarinder.

Referring to the SAD and its “anti-people” functioning, Amarinder said, “The ‘original’ Akali Dal of 1925 is non-existent and what remains behind is a band of robbers led by Badal. The Akali dal had lost its direction long time back. Corruption and political high-handedness rules the roost now. Bikram Singh Majithia has usurped all sand contracts or sources of the state with a result that the price of one trolley of sand has jumped from Rs 400 to Rs 2,200,” said Amarinder. He also accused the SAD-BJP government of having misled employees on the pay commission report.

Capt Amarinder also alleged that the family of late Punjab minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh had been sidelined by the SAD leadership. “To weaken the family, the SAD has started backing NK Sharma from Zirakpur,” he said.

He alleged that as many as 42 Congress workers had been killed and 60,000 booked in 2,200 “false” cases framed by the SAD-BJP government. “It is nothing but goonda raj,” said Amarinder.

Patiala, April 20
One Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), one SAD (Badal) and one BSP leader, who was withdrawn by the BSP from Fatehgarh Sahib, joined the Congress at Moti Bagh Palace of Capt Amarinder Singh here last evening.

Gursewak Singh Jawaharke, general secretary of the Bathinda unit of the SAD (A), Bhagwant Singh Lachkhani, general secretary of the Patiala district unit of the SAD (Badal), and Gursewak Singh Sewak, a retired judge who was withdrawn by the BSP as its candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib, joined the Congress in the presence of Capt Amarinder. All three leaders, who switched over to the Congress, assured Amarinder that they would be working in favour of Congress candidates in their respective areas.

Amarinder Singh, who welcomed them into the Congress fold, said people were with the Congress and that they would make the Congress win all 13 seats of Punjab.

Tarn Taran, April 20
Earlier the SAD had some ideology, but now only nepotism prevailed in this party. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh alleged this at a Congress rally nea Tarn Taran bypass under the Khadoor Sahib constituency today.

Also chairman of the Congress campaign committee Amarinder Singh alleged that the Akali Dal had become private limited party of Parkash Singh Badal and his family.

Amarinder added that the entire Badal family was camping in Bathinda, but his son Raninder Singh alone was giving a tough fight to SAD chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s wife Harsimrat Kaur.

PPCC acting president Lal Singh alleged that SGPC funds were being misused by the SAD for campaigning.

The rally was a show of strength by Jalandhar MP Rana Gurjit Singh before filing nomination from Khadoor Sahib, but he could not file papers on Monday as Amarinder reached late and the time for filing papers was over, said Rana. Rana said he would now file papers either on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Jalandhar, April 20
Passengers boarding Delhi-bound Shatabdi train here have to face inconvenience after the Railway authorities have decided to reserve seats in the train.

Actually the Railway authorities have a quota of 84 seats for the passengers boarding it from Jalandhar railway station. Surprisingly all of them have been provided, for several months, reserved seats only in single coach C 11 in train number 2014.

As halt of the train is from 6.13 am to 6.15 am, passengers, especially the aged ones, women and children, find it difficult to board in two minutes.

Sneh Sikka, an Adarsh Nagar resident here, said one of their relatives could not board it due to the crowd of passengers a few days back. As he had to reach Delhi urgently, Sneh and her husband Prof Vidya Bhushan Sikka took him by car to Delhi, she added.

Advocate Diwan Chand Mahendru of Krishan Nagar said those who were to take flights from Delhi faced a lot of inconvenience as usually they carried more suitcases with them compared to other passengers. The shortage of porters aggravated the problems, he added.

Amit Anand of Bhai Ditt Singh Nagar demanded that the Railway authorities should either restart the earlier reservation system for Shatabdi with reserved seats in more than one coach or its halt should be increased to least 5minutes.

Similar was the problem for passengers of Delhi-bound Shatabdi number 2032 which left Jalandhar railway station at 6.05 pm after its arrival from Amritsar at 6.03 pm.

Jalandhar station superintendent Ashok Kumar said he had already written to his higher authorities to restore the earlier system of reservation by changing the software loaded in the computer of reserving seats only in a single coach.

Chandigarh, April 20
There is finally light at the end of the tunnel for scores of visually challenged unemployed persons as the Punjab government today decided to write to the Election Commission (EC) to exempt the recruitment process for them from the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections.

The agreement was reached at a meeting between Punjab Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh and a delegation of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) here today.

In fact, the government also agreed in principle to implement the December 19, 2008, decision of the Delhi High Court regarding jobs for visually challenged persons, Rajesh Mohan, general secretary of the NFB, claimed here.The Delhi High Court had ruled that the visually challenged should be recruited on the basis of the total strength of the cadre .

Rajesh Mohan stated that the delegation submitted a list of 200 unemployed visually challenged persons to the Chief Secretary. Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary directed all departments to initiate the process of recruitment so that the posts could be filled up immediately following a nod from the EC.

Urging the EC to give immediate approval for the recruitment, Rajesh Mohan hoped that the commission’s decision would go a long way in providing employment to over 200 unemployed visually challenged persons. It may be recalled that the visually challenged had been agitating for a long time for the acceptance of their demands, including filling up of the quota for them in the government sector.

Meanwhile, the NFB has decided to continue with its dharna till the process for the recruitment was initiated by the concerned authorities. A rally was also held outside the Directorate of Social Security in Sector 34 by the NFB in support of their demands.

Bathinda, April 20
A farmer of Bhagi Vandar village in Bathinda district, ended his life late on Sunday evening by consuming pesticide.

With this, the number of suicide cases by farmers in Bathinda district has reached three in less than a month.

Sukhmander Singh (42) alias Ruldu owned five acres. He owed lakhs to arhtiyas and banking institutions as debt.

The kin of the deceased said he was depressed for couple of months due to debt. They said he had to pay Rs 3 lakh to arhtiya of Maur Mandi, Rs 2.50 lakh to one in Bathinda and around Rs 6 lakh to a bank in Talwandi Sabo. The arhtiya of Maur Mandi had reportedly confiscated chunk of his land.

He consumed pesticide. Finding his condition deteriorating, his family took him to the Civil Hospital in Talwandi Sabo, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

He leaves behind parents, wife and two sons, Kala Singh and Gora Singh. The sarpanch of the village, Birbal Singh and activists of farmer organisations demanded the family be provided relief from debt burden.

SDM Talwandi Sabo Anil Garg said, “The family refused to get the postmortem conducted. So, no case has been lodged at the police station. But we will investigate the case to ascertain all the facts.”

Hoshiarpur, April 20
The Wildlife Department arrested a person for allegedly killing peacocks with poison-laced grain from Rurian village, near here, today.

The department also claims to have recovered cooked meat measuring 2 kg from poacher Munna Singh from his makeshift jhuggi at Manna village located on the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara Road.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Sewa Singh claimed that Munna was involved in peacock killing for quite some time and used wings and feathers of the national bird for manufacturing ‘desi’ medicines. He also used to eat its meat with his family.

Belonging to the Sigligar community, Munna hails from Mathura and as a poacher was operating in Hoshiarpur district for quite some time.

After the death of over half a dozen peacocks in the vicinity of Rurian village, the Wildlife Department laid a trap and a raid was conducted on his jhuggi after getting clues from villagers.

The DFO, along with village sarpanch Onkar Nath and others, conducted a search in the fields of the area, but could not find any peacock carcasses. They finally got a tip-off from villagers regarding the possible killing of the birds by him in the area. The wildlife officials and the villagers found a utensil full of peacock meat inside his jhuggi.

The DFO claimed that during questioning Munna Singh admitted to have killed the bird by scattering poison-laced grains in nearby fields. A case under Sections 9, 39, 49 and 51, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, has been registered against him.

After collecting carcasses of five birds, comprising two male and three female, from different fields in Rurain village, the department has conducted a postmortem examination at a private laboratory in Hoshiarpur. The postmortem examination report had confirmed the deaths due to poisoning.