Roorkee, May 10
Addressing a mammoth gathering of 20,000 at KL DAV College ground here today, All- India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi today struck instant rapport with the audience. He appealed for votes, emphasizing that the Congress stood for the common man.

"Our party looks after the interests of the poor, the farmers and slum-dwellers, irrespective of the their caste, community and religion," claimed the leader.

People were seen making a beeline for the venue even as Rahul Gandhi reached at 5 pm, after a delay of two hours. He was welcomed by Haridwar party candidate Harish Rawat. Others present were RK Dhawan, Yashpal Arya (Congress state head) and Rakesh Tikait (BKU leader).

Rahul minced no words while attacking the rival party BJP, saying its party leaders were liars and against secularism. "They have divided the country not only on religion, but also on financial grounds. "The rich became richer during their regime with no concern for the poor and the downtrodden classes,"said Gandhi.

He highlighted the achievements of the UPA government. "We have waived Rs 70,000 crore loans of farmers. Besides, the GDP rate has touched new heights (9 points)."

On terrorism, Rahul said none in the BJP had borne the brunt of terrorism but " I have lost my grandmother and father because of terrorism.

"We gave our lives but did not bend. The party will continue to follow this path vis-a- vis terrorism," he said.

Earlier in the day, at a well-attended rally in Pitthoragarh, Rahul lambasted the BJP for raking up the issue of Afzal Guru, guilty in the Parliament attack case.

He said the "guru"of Afzal, dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar, along with others were freed by the BJP-led NDA government following the Kandahar plain hijack. Rahul also addressed rallies at Gouchar in Pauri Garhwal and Udham Singh Nagar districts. 

Dehradun, May 10
The Congress today accused the state BJP of creating "superficial" inflation of sugar and pulses just to gain mileage in the elections. Leveling these allegations, national spokesman of the Congress Mohan Prakash said hoarders, backed by the BJP, have illegally stocked up sugar and pulses, which has resulted in the increase in prices.

"This is nothing but an attempt to gain mileage in the elections," he said, adding that if state governments make effort they can easily check this unhealthy practice at their own level.

Reacting to accusations of BJP leaders, wherein they had stated that prices of essential commodities during the UPA regime increased so much that common man struggled for even two square meals, Prakash said some seven months back inflation shot up but that was due to pressures of the international market. "Currently inflation is less than one per cent cent," he said.

The Congress spokesman said for the first time, the opposition is issueless and termed the BJP as a party that is anti-development. "The functioning of the UPA government was transparent and all sections of society were taken care of by the Congress-led government", he said.

Listing the achievements of the UPA government, he said under the able leadership of Sonia Gandhi they had fulfilled many of the promises made in the 2004 election manifesto. He said that during the five-year tenure of the UPA, special emphasis was laid to ensure that there was no increase in the prices of seeds and fertilisers.

"UPA has brought comfort and hope to crores of farmers and their families by increasing the MSP and procurement prices, waiving loans to the tune of Rs 65,000 crore, increasing credit from banks to three-fold and reducing interest rates on crop loans by extending irrigation facilities," he said.

Criticising BJP Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani, Prakash said he was speaking of money in Swiss banks but Advani should first talk about the money that went missing from BJP's Delhi office. "Advani's name even figured in Hawala racket," he said, adding that the Court later gave him a clean-chit. 

Dehradun May 10
Chief Minister BC Khanduri has rejected the charges levelled by Congress President Sonia Gandhi against the state BJP for failing to utilise the aid given by the Central government as baseless.

"The charges levelled by the Congress President at a rally held yesterday against the state government are without facts. Our performance has been certainly better in all the spheres as compared to the performance of the previous Congress government in the state.

“The BJP government has spent around Rs 120 crore between 2007-2009, while for the same period the Congress had only spent Rs 48.50 crore under the National Rural Guarantee Programme," said Khanduri.

In a press release issued today, Khanduri said: "As soon as the BJP came to power in the state, we managed to start work on projects worth Rs 150 crore."

He also took exception to the charges made by Sonia Gandhi that the state had done little on the power front, as a result of which people were facing acute shortage of power.

"During the erstwhile Congress party's rule between 2006-07 there was an average power cut for 4-5 hours and even the industries did not get proper supply. Whereas after my government came to power, within eight months the state got rid of frequent power cuts," he said.

He added that due to the efforts his government, medical education is being streamlined with the establishment of Veer Chander Singh Garhwali, Medical College in 2008.

He referred to Dr Pradeep Jain versus Union of India case in Apex court stating that the court had made it clear that no state can discriminate Indian citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

He said Harish Rawat had even written a letter to him assuring to take up the issue if elected. Similar assurances have come from candidates of other parties.

Dehradun, May 10
The personal reputation of Chief Minister BC Khanduri as a star campaigner for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is at stake in all the five Lok Sabha seats of the state.

Khanduri has taken upon himself the task of winning the maximum number of seats for his party and has left no stone unturned to achieve the goal.

Since February, much before the announcement of general election, Khanduri had toured the entire length and breadth of the state announcing various developmental schemes in each of the 13 districts of the state.

Khanduri has been constantly touring the state addressing election rallies and meetings. Despite senior BJP leaders, including Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani, visiting the state to address rallies, it was Khanduri who has been the main campaigner.

Since Khanduri completed two years of his stint as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand in March 2009, he has been emphasising on the achievements of his government to impress the voters.

Moreover, he has also been highlighting the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in which he was a cabinet minister of surface transport responsible for the national highway projects.

He has been telling the voters about various developmental works undertaken by the NDA government and his own government.

Having a large number of service and ex-servicemen voters in the state, Khanduri has been mentioning about the internal and external security issues in his election speeches.

He has been talking about the nuclear tests conducted by the previous NDA government and the alleged failure of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to check the menace of terrorism.

Khanduri has been trying to again win over the large number of servicemen and ex-servicemen voters who have been voting for him and the BJP in the last several elections.

He has also been trying to influence women voters, who outnumber men in eight of the thirteen districts of the state, by talking about giving 50 per cent reservations in Panchayati Raj Institutions to women and also starting "Gaura Devi Kanya Dhan Yojna" for girls of families belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.

Since Khanduri had to face a near rebellion from his own party legislators, the Lok Sabha elections remain a litmus test of his popularity as well as political acumen.

Dehradun, May 10
Uttaranchal Mahila Association (UMA) celebrated Mothers Day with senior citizens at Prem Dham, old aged home, here today. The programme began with the lighting of the lamp by chief guest Raj Rawat, president state women commission and sister Anjali from Prem Dham.

Later, Sadhna Sharma, president UMA talked about the importance of mothers in life and said god has created mother with a heart full of love, care and compassion. Her importance in life can never change and even if today she’s called as ‘mum’ or ‘mumma’ she still remains the epitome of love.

Members of UMA performed various activities during the function. Beautiful poems on mother’s and enthralling dance performances were the main highlights of the day. Senior citizens enjoyed the performances thoroughly.

“I am living in this old age home from past 10 years and I do miss my family. But today I am really happy to see such lovely performances being organised for us,” said Vimla at Prem Dham.

“Though mother’s day is a western occasion and holds lot of importance there, but we as a organisation feel that there’s no harm in adopting something which benefits our society and spreads the message of love amongst people,” said Sadhna. 

Dehradun, May 10
Light rains in parts of Uttarakhand have come as a relief for foresters and forest officials who are fighting hard in controlling raging forest fires in the state.

While places like Srinagar, Garhwal and Dehradun experienced some light showers today, which helped to a great extent in extinguishing forest fires that were being reported from all parts of the state.

However, Uttarakhand chief conservator of Forests Environment AR Sinha admitted the rain showers were proved to be helpful in extinguishing forest fire in some parts of the state but added that, however, fires were still billowing in many parts of the state.

Managing forest fires continues to be a big challenge for the state forest department with as many as 10 people losing their lives in these fires.

While as many as seven persons had died in Pauri fire incident, a youth had lost his life in Chamoli while two sisters died in Nainital forest fire, 
yesterday.

Significantly, forest sources revealed that the Election Commission has exempted Uttarakhand foresters from poll duty taking into account their busy and necessary engagements in extinguishing forest fires.

Principal chief conservator of forests Dr RBS Rawat who has been regularly monitoring the forest fire situation in the state and had recently appointed senior forest officials as coordinators at district levels for an effective check on forest fires.

He has also asked the forest officers to ensure their presence in the field during the entire season.

Dehradun, May 10
Uttarakhand cricket team of deaf members will soon be leaving to participate in the 5th National Championship for Deaf and Dumb to be held in Delhi from may 19 to 27. As many as 17 teams will be participating in the tournament.

The championship will also help in selection of the national team for the 3rd World Cup, which is to be held in New Zealand.

Uttarakhand team for the upcoming tournament comprise Pavan Kumar captain, Rajat Rana, Gaurav Sharma, Abishek Sharma, Ankit, Avnesh Aneja, Deepak Rawat, Sonu, Jitender, Sonu, Jitendar, Dipanshu, Anuj, Kalid, Vivek, Amardeep and Abhishek. The team held its practice session at Parade Ground today.

Uttarakhand Cricket Association of Deaf that is headed by Prem Kumar and has selected the team members for the tournament.

Dehradun, May 10
Uttarakhand occupied the first position the All-India Karate-Do Championship that concluded at Doon Sports Academy, here today. Assam Rifle was placed at second placed whereas Jummu bagged third position.

Results, Boys

Below 14 years: 1. Randeep Singh 2. Ashutosh Sharma 3. Prashant Yadav.
Above 14 years: 1. Sumit Mishra 2. Tarun Joshi 3. Jaideep
Below 18 years: 1. Kiran 2. Chait Ram Sahu 3. Sonu Nirmal

Boys (Kumite):

Above 18 years: 1. K.B.Thapa 2. Dinesh Singh Rana 3. Asif Sultan.

Boys Katha

In 14 years: 1. Neeraj Rana 2. A.Pratap 3. Angad Ahuwalia.
In 16 years: 1. Yogant Khand 2. Vinayak Sharma 3. Rahil Chaudhari.
Below 18 years: 1. Sanjeev Kumar 2. Karandeep Singh 3. Ashish Bisht.
Above 18 years: 1. Rajesh Singh 2. Makti 3. M.D. Amir Khan.
Senior Men Category: 1. S. Preya Nanda 2. Hitlar Singh 3. Tapan Tiwari

Girls:

Below 14 years: 1. Nupur Pokhiyal 2. Shivani Gupta 3. Dipali Sharma.
In 14 year (Kumite): 1. Shubhangi 2. Ichita 3. Akanksha
Below 14 (Kathu): 1. Vibali Joshi 2. Akhila 3. Natarhia Shukla. 

Dehradun, May 10
Sachin emerged winner of Chaudhari Rohtash Singh Memorial Junior Tennis Tournament in 18-years category, here today.

Results:

In Boys’ 10-years category: Rahil beat Adarsh by 6-2.
In 12-years category: M.Rawat beat Siddhart Singh by 6-1.
In 14-year category: Ankur Rawat beat Bhragu by 6-0.
In Boys 18 years category: Sachin Kumar beat Rahul Kumar by 6-2.

Girls:

In 16-years category: S.Singh beat S.Sinha by 6-2.
In open category: Aashina beat A.Jain by 6-4.