Nawanshahr, May 1
The signs of bitterness between the district senior and youth Congressmen sensed during the organisational poll of the Youth Congress, virtually came to the fore during the election campaign of Ravneet Singh Bittu, state Youth Congress President and Congress nominee for the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency.

The opposing factions of the party vied with each other for his attention and even indulged in altercations to score a point over their rivals.

Two separate election meetings were organised at New Teachers Colony by District Congress President Kuldip Singh Rana and District Youth Congress President Rajwinder Singh Lucky on Tuesday evening, during the visit of the party nominee.

Ironically, a tug-of-war between the district presidents of the senior and Youth Congress was witnessed here by the public over the issue of taking Bittu to the rally organised by the Youth Congress.

Both the presidents even indulged in an altercation in the presence of Bittu during a public meeting at Ravidas Nagar.

Rana had scheduled an election meeting at New Teachers Colony to show the strength of local leader Chander Mohan Pinky who had recently been included in the party through his efforts. Pinky had unsuccessfully contested the MC poll last year from the area.

On the other hand, Lucky had organised a separate show of strength programme at the residence of Youth Congress leader Satish Rana in the same colony.

According to Youth Congress leaders, it had mutually been finalised that Bittu would first come to the rally organised at the residence of Satish Rana and then all the participants would proceed in a procession to join the rally organised by Pinky.

But Kuldip Rana had been opposing the holding of an unscheduled election meeting, alleged Youth Congress leaders.

However, Bittu first addressed the rally organised by Kuldip Rana and then went to address the rally by the Youth Congress leaders at about 10.30 pm.

Interestingly, just after this, a tussle surfaced between Kuldip Rana and District Congress (Urban) President Vipin Taneja (Bobby) and his close associate Lalit Mohan Pathak (Ballu), former MC chief.

Both Taneja and Pathak had scheduled an election meeting at Vikas Nagar. Though both of them had been persuading Bittu to visit Vikas Nagar where a gathering of a large number of college and school teachers was waiting for him (Bittu) since 9 pm, Kuldip Rana and his supporters again started compelling Bittu to first join a dinner at the residence of Keshav Narayan Tony.

Then again an altercation between Pathak and a supporter of Kuldip Rana over the issue was seen following which Bittu agreed to address the rally at Vikas Nagar before the dinner.

Tarn Taran, May 1
Workers and employees organised meetings and rallies today at different parts of the area to observe International Labour Day (May Day).

The local Municipal Lower Grade Employees Union, Government Teachers Union and Punjab Subordinate Services Federation (PSSF) jointly organised a rally on the premises of the local Municipal Council.

Romesh Kumar Shergill, Sardool Singh Usman and other leaders, while addressing workers, paid rich tributes to the Chicago martyrs. The leaders also highlighted the problems of the employees and workers.

The Trade Union Council organised a rally at the Circle Office of the PSEB under the chairmanship of Amarjit Singh Marrimegha, an employee leader.

The representatives of the PWD Field and Workshop Workers Union in a meeting organised on the occasion called the workers of the union to be ready to take part in the proposed rally being organised at Bathinda on May 4.

The leaders said the union demanded for the regularisation of the ad hoc and daily wage employees of the department.

Jalandhar: The Technical Services Union of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) cantt division, situated at Birring village near here, celebrated May Day also known as Labour Day, on Friday.

President of the union Shri Ram Jaggi hoisted the flag amidst shouting of slogans by union members on the occasion.

Addressing the gathering, he said the state government should cancel the Electricity Bill 2003 and discourage the privatisation of the electricity board.

The May Day celebrations were attended by workers from Cantt division number 1, 2 and Jandu Singha village.

He urged union members to fight for their rights as consecutive governments had done nothing, except making false promises in the name of progress, for workers.

Meanwhile, the B. Ed Teachers Front, Punjab also celebrated May Day at the local Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall.

The members also urged the state government to bring the teachers under the
fifth pay commission.

Jalandhar, May 1
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take up the issue of the attack on Sikhs living in the North West Frontier Province by the Taliban, with the UN.

Condemning the attack, cabinet minister and senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia today told mediapersons that the matter merited the PM’s immediate intervention.

Singh should break his silence on the atrocities being committed on the minority community to which he (PM) belongs and should take up the issue at the appropriate international fora, including the UN.

Taking a dig at the PM, he said due to the indifferent attitude by the former, the turban ban in France could not be revoked. Had the PM wanted, the matter would have been resolved to our satisfaction, he added.

The PM must act preemptively to stem any further loss to the Punjabis, especially Sikhs living in the NWFP for centuries.

It is a matter of concern that houses of 11 Sikhs were razed since they could not pay Jaziya (protection money) in the Taliban-controlled area in Pakistan, he added.

The Taliban had asked Sikhs to pay Rs 5 crore as Jaziya annually since under Sharia law all non-Muslims are bound to pay the tax.

Kalia said the PM, who was also born in Pakistan, should realize the plight of his community in Pakistan as the latter were being harassed by the Taliban in the country where Guru Nanak Dev was born, he pointed out.

Amritsar, May 1
Mintori of Wajir Bhullar village (Beas) falling under the Amritsar (rural) assembly constituency committed suicide by setting herself on fire on Friday night.

According to sources, Mintori got married to Suresh Kumar in February 2008. However, when she failed to conceive even after 14 months, Suresh allegedly started beating her up for not conceiving a child.

SHO Harjeet Singh Bajwa said a dispute had occurred among the family members on this issue at which Mintori’s husband Suresh and her father-in-law Ganesh Ram allegedly beat her up.

Finding no solution to the problem, Mintori took kerosene can to the fields and set herself on fire, while her in-laws were busy watching the television.

Batala, May 1
Jatinder Singh, an army personnel, died on the spot whereas his wife Ranjit Kaur and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter suffered serious injuries here today.

The motorcycle on which they were going to Jatinder’s native village, Maksudpur, collided with a tree on the Sri Hargobindpur-Gurdaspur Road.

According to police sources, the wife and daughter of Jatinder Singh, who was posted at an Army unit in Tibri Cantt near Gurdaspur, have been admitted to a private hospital nearby.