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PM’s remarks on ’84 riots shocking: Badal
Kaypee gains weight, Hans sheds 10 kg
Mohinder Singh & KaypeeHans Raj Hans
Clashes in Moga, Faridkot, Muktsar
Case of code violation against Cong supporters
Dhindsa’s reply to Sarna
It’s going to be tough for Vinod Khanna
Restrain Majithia: Capt
Anandpur Sahib all set for poll
140 criminals rounded up
Finally, environment becomes poll issue
Spy racket: Heads likely to roll
Avinash Rai is rights panel member
11 victims of riots freed
Panel to probe sacrilege incident
HC stays trial proceedings
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Candidates make last-ditch efforts
Hoshiarpur, May 12 While some candidates launched a personal-contact programme since last night, the others covered the left-out areas in vehicles without any party flag or symbol. Two times MP from the Phillaur parliamentary constituency Santosh Chaudhary, a Congress candidate, along with her husband and supporters met villagers in small groups at Tanda, Shamchaurasi, Gardhiwal, Dasuya and some other areas. BSP candidate Sukhwinder Sukhi went to the villages from where he had received poor feedback about the BSP. BJP candidate Som Prakash, former IAS officer, made a final attempt to rope-in the ‘annoyed’ ones. Talking to The Tribune, Santosh Chaudhary claimed she was confident of her victory and today covered the areas to which she could not give more attention earlier. “After a long and tiring campaigning, I am busy in planning for tomorrow. Today, I am relaxed as we have done out best. Now, the key is in the hands of the electorate,” said Som Prakash. “We have mobilised the masses along in the past eight months. I visited certain villages and a few sections of people who were annoyed and were left-out in the campaigning,” said Dr Sukhi.
Navjot, Soni take breather
Sanjay Bumbroo and PK Jaiswar adds from Amritsar: After hectic campaigning for the past about a month, candidates of major political parties like the BJP and the Congress preferred to take rest assessing their position with party workers at their respective residences, whereas BSP candidate remained busy in door-to-door canvassing here today.
Congress candidate Om Prakash Soni had to abandon his door-to-door campaign for fears of EC action as wherever he went a large number of people gathered around him. He preferred to take rest at home and meet party workers there only. Members of his family had gone to his ancestral village yesterday to campaign for him. On the other hand, BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was reportedly out of city and returned only at noon, also confined himself to his house. However, he could be seen meeting party leaders and workers and issuing instructions to keep a close tab on his strongholds. He even refused to meet the local electronic media. Talking to The Tribune, he said as a little time was left for the polling, his main thrust would be to organise party workers and assigning them poll duties. He was also meeting local MLA and party leaders to coordinate the whole process. He would also meet the estranged party members and try to win back their confidence. Meanwhile, a former Governor and BSP candidate, Lieut-Gen BKN Chhibar (retd), launched his door-to-door campaign early in the morning covering localities of Navi Abadi, Rattan Singh Chowk, Karampura, Faizpura, Nirankari Enclave, etc. He also visited various markets in the walled city. He said he had not come for any monetary gains or to acquire any political power, but to serve the masses.
Bittu’s tech team active
Deepkamal Kaur adds from Anandpur Sahib: The candidates of this constituency, who are in a neck-and-neck contest, hardly had a moment to relax.
The SAD candidate, Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema, said he concluded his campaign at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib at 5 pm yesterday, the place where it had begun almost three months ago. “I believe that I have done my best and I now leave it on the Almighty to take care of the rest”, he sighed. Cheema was at Mohali and Chandigarh making last-minute efforts to pep up his workers and supporters who had gone demorialised over internal petty issues. “I do not think that any last-minute arrangements need to be made. Most of the areas falling in my constituency comprise the rural belt where the voters are used to walking down to the polling booth as enthusiasm mostly remains high,” he added. Congress nominee Ravneet Singh Bittu, too, was busy going door to door at all those houses in Mohali that he missed earlier during his campaigning. His techies’ team remained occupied in a silent campaign sending e-mails to Bittu’s schoolmates of Guru Nanak Public School, Sector-36, Chandigarh, from where he did plus two in 1992-93. Bittu’s aide Amandeep Singh said he had managed to collect 500 addresses of students of the school, most of whom had started responding favourably.
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PM’s remarks on ’84 riots shocking: Badal
Chandigarh May 12 Badal also said the Prime Minister should not have added insult to the injury of tragic victims by saying that they were trying to politicise their grief. "This is really heartless and shocking in the extreme and I can not believe that the Prime Minister can be so insensitive to the horrendous tragedy of thousands of hapless Sikh men, women and children. Clearly, he has been forced to make this statement under pressure from 10 Janpath," Badal said in a statement. The Chief Minister said Sikhs would forget the massacre the day justice was done and the guilty punished. Describing the Prime Minister's statement as “an insult not only to the Sikh wounds but to the process of justice in the country,” the Chief Minster said, "This must be the only instance in world history of a lawfully appointed head of a government openly standing up in defence of killers, rapists and looters of thousands of defenceless innocents, seeking that the case against them should be closed and forgotten even before the judiciary has pronounced its final verdict on the issue." The Chief Minister said Dr Singh's statement had further confirmed the impression that the Prime Minister was “not the master of his own conscience” and his statements were made under pressure from the Congress high command, represented by the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Victims only seeking justice: Bir
Devinder
Congress-turned-SAD leader Bir Devinder Singh today said the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday giving advice to victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots not to drag the issue and move on, was most unfortunate and deplorable.
In a statement here, Bir Devinder claimed that riot-affected families had all along been looking towards improvement of justice delivery system which, unfortunately, remained notoriously slow even when there was a Sikh Prime Minister. The SAD leader said it was unfortunate and shameful when the Prime Minister had chosen to attack the efforts of those who were working relentlessly for getting justice for the poor wards of the victims of the 1984 riots as running
shops. Bir Devinder said the families did expect, justifiably, that at least those who were widely perceived to have perpetrated the genocide of Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere in the country and squarely responsible for their misfortune should be brought to justice rather than provided shelter and protective umbrella by the Gandhi family.
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Kaypee gains weight, Hans sheds 10 kg
Jalandhar, May 12 For Congress candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee, it was just another day of campaigning as the party workers reached his place early morning for a meeting and he was virtually left with no time to relax. “Till the polling is over and the election results are out we cannot manage to relax. Even today, I left for meetings at 7 in the morning”, added Kaypee. To a query if he has shed some weight due to frequent walking during the campaigning, Kaypee said: “I have rather put on more weight due to the off and on catering service by party workers. Eatables like pakoras, laddoo, coke, nimbu pani followed every now and then. I missed my homemade food”, he added. However, greenhorn SAD candidate Hans Raj Hans maintained: “Aj mai suraj chade utheya, roz tareya di chaame uthda si”. The singer-turned-politician said he had a relaxed beginning today. He too spent the day meeting SAD-BJP party workers and giving interviews. Sharing his campaigning experience so far, Hans said: “Till date I have visited more than 1,300 villages of my constituency which helped me in reducing 10 kg weight as well”. Interestingly, despite hectic schedules, Hans maintained a good balance of his health too. “Even during campaign tours I drank lukewarm water to keep my throat at ease. Besides, once-in-a-while dose of Sufi music was my real stress buster”, quipped the candidate.
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Clashes in Moga, Faridkot, Muktsar
Moga, May 12 In Moga, president of the Municipal Council and youth Akali leader Barjinder Singh Brar held a meeting with councillors and workers briefing them on tomorrow’s arrangements. Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain also held a separate meeting with his workers to give a final touch to his strategy to convince urban voters. Reports from the rural areas of Moga and Faridkot districts revealed that the workers of both the Congress and the SAD were busy in door-to-door campaigning. Meanwhile, in Kotkapura, a bus was burnt to ashes in the wee hours. People said a blast occurred in the stationary bus. However, officials of the administration claimed that the blast occurred due to short-circuit in the bus. A couple of incidents of clashes and firing among the workers of rival parties were also reported in this area. At least, four persons were admitted to the Kotkapura Civil Hospital. At Rania village in Nihalsinghwala subdivision of Moga district, SAD workers, with the help of policemen, tried to remove flags of the Congress from the house of Dalit families. Congress supporters gheraoed the Kot Bhai police station in Muktsar district after the police picked up three of their workers, all residents of Lohara village, allegedly at the behest of the SAD. The Congress workers alleged that even as the case was registered under a simple bailable offence, the police refused to release them on bail.
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Case of code violation against Cong supporters
Amritsar, May 12 The FIR No. 63 registered, under Section 126, Public Representation Act ,1951, against Congress supporters included former Mayor Sunil Dutti, Surinder Singh, Lakhanpal, Vinod Kumar, Joginder Lohe Wala and about 60 unidentified persons. Satinder Singh, SP (City II), said the supporters had held a political meeting at a showroom and election material was recovered from them. OP Soni said his supporters did not hold any rally today. He alleged that Sidhu had blatantly violated code of conduct by holding rally at Bhittewad village.
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Dhindsa’s reply to Sarna
Sangrur, May 12 It was the NDA which had formed the Nanawati Commission for probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, while the Congress had committed atrocities on Sikhs in many ways, including the 1984 riots. Dhindsa said during the NDA regime, the Badal government had held the bicentenary celebrations of the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and at that time Vajpayee had attended the function and announced a package of Rs 1,500 crore for Punjab. The Badal government had also celebrated the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa and Vajpayee had given Rs 100 crore for the purpose.
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It’s going to be tough for Vinod Khanna
Gurdaspur, May 12 A traditional Congress stronghold, anti- incumbency has never been a factor here. Out of the nine assembly segments, which constitute the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, eight are held by BJP and SAD MLAs. The key factor in Vinod Khanna’s campaign has been the ability and intentions of these MLAs to gather support for him. The ninth MLA is Bajwa himself representing Kahnuwan, which no longer is part of this constituency. Though himself a three times winner, Bajwa is surrounded by Congressmen who have lost to the sitting MLAs, the only saving grace being the minute margins that led to their defeat. The performance of the sitting MLAs has had a substantial impact on the voter’s mind here. The MLAs have, however, faltered on several grounds. Other than development issues, which seem to be no one’s priority, the choice of sarpanch in villages remains a seething cause of discontentment. To add insult to injury, villagers openly allege bias in the distribution of BPL cards. Though Khanna claims to have worked hard as an MP, which could be true, his physical absence from the constituency and ‘lack of visibility’ has given Bajwa a convenient stick to beat his opponent with. Poll experts add that Khanna’s absence also led to a thinning down of his personal bonds with party workers, which he managed to revive but only towards the last 10 days of campaigning. Delimitation of the Gurdaspur seat to exclude Mukerian and include Qadian has gone in Bajwa’s favour. Bajwa belongs to Qadian and his family has grass-roots level links there. Khanna does not have even a vote here. The Mukerian loss is also going to be all Khannas as this belt voted for him being the direct beneficiaries of the bridges that he built. In 2004, Mukerain gave Khanna a lead of almost 9,000 votes against Congress’ Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder. Khanna’s image of a clean simple man is, however, going to make a big difference when the voter takes the final call. Though vehemently objected to by Bajwa, Khanna and his workers have somehow managed to hammer in a host of allegations against Bajwa and his family in the voters’ mind.
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Anandpur Sahib all set for poll
Ropar, May 12 Tomorrow morning, these polling parties will conduct a mock exercise at 6 am with representatives of polling agents contesting from this seat. This exercise will take place simultaneously across all 1,586 polling booths. Today late evening, all EVM machines were randomised and distributed at various places. Similarly, the polling staff was also assigned its duty after a randomisation exercise undertaken by the returning officer-cum-deputy commissioner Priyank Bharti and the three poll observers appointed by the Election Commission of India
(ECI). Polling will start at 7 am at 1,586 polling booths of Anandpur Sahib that comprises nine assembly segments.
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140 criminals rounded up
Fatehgarh Sahib, May 12 Besides this, paramilitary forces have been deployed in the constituency. More than 35 parties will be on round-the-clock duty, maintaining law and order in the area. The police has put up barricades (naka) at 54 places in the constituency to check the entry of anti-social elements. Also the entire polling staff has been dispatched to their respective polling stations with election material. 1,330 polling booths have been set up in 975 different places in Fatehgarh Sahib constituency. 327 polling booths out of these are declared sensitive. The officials said 395 booths have been set up in 327 polling stations of Fatehgarh Sahib district. Fatehgarh Sahib seat comprises assembly segments including Bassi Pathana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amloh, Khanna, Samrala, Amargarh, Sahnewal, Payal and Raikot.
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Finally, environment becomes poll issue
Ludhiana, May 12 Tewari, who has been talking about various environmental concerns in his public meetings, has at times been taken “to be a lunatic talking of environment in political rallies”. Taking a cue from him, other politicians too have started making promises about cleaning the environment. Tewari in his vision document has promised to introduce CNG-driven vehicles in Ludhiana to check air pollution caused by vehicular emissions. In fact, Tewari when asked by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to list some important issued facing Ludhiana residents, Tewari said, “The Budha Nullah needs to be revivied”. Rahul then made it a point to mention this in his speech and make a promise to people of Ludhiana that the nallahwould be cleaned. Talking to The Tribune, Tewari said, “The enormity of the problem (of pollution) is such that we may soon reach a situation of no return”. Hence, he would make a beginning with cleaning air pollution caused by vehicles (which can be done through CNG) and then look at industrial and other pollution choking the city. He argued that about a decade ago people in Delhi used to think that the situation there was “irreversible”, but after CNG was introduced, the situation changed and people had started breathing fresh air. Tewari’s concern for clean environment is not just limited to Ludhiana or to vehicular pollution. “It is not just the city which is affected by the Budha Nallah, but the water in Sutlej which gets toxic once the nallah joins it. The problem is bigger than what is appears to be”. At the same time, he said, there needed to be alternate methods of disposal of industrial effluents also so that the industry was not hit adversely.
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Spy racket: Heads likely to roll
Pathankot, May 12 Harpreet Singh, SP, Pathankot, here today said the court had given police remand of the accused till May 18. When asked about more arrests and confiscation of incriminating information from the computer, he said he could not divulge the details at that moment due to sensitivity of the case and investigation was going on. Posted as Jail Warden at Dharamsala, Charan Das originally hailed from Ajmer (Rajasthan). His arrest was made possible following the apprehending of Pakistani national Javed Iqbal and his woman accomplice Akila Khan, also a resident of Ajmer. Back to back three arrests from the border district sharing border with militancy-afflicted Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh shook Indian intelligence agencies. Police sources said the computer allegedly contained sensitive information, names, contact numbers gleaned by Charan Das for his Pakistani masters. They said he had agreed to work for the Pakistani intelligence network after they offered him hefty money. They said he had been receiving money from hawala channels through Spain and Italy. Javed and Akila had been staying in the Prem Nagar locality under assumed names for the past sometime.
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Avinash Rai is rights panel member
Chandigarh, May 12 While talking to TNS Khanna said, “I have always been serving people and have raised issues concerning a common man’s problems. My main aim has always been to serve the people even when I was in politics.” Elaborating on his area of work, Khanna said, “We will make efforts to increase the awareness of a common man about his rights.” Khanna was the vice-president of the BJP unit of Hoshiarpur in 1998 and became the president of Punjab BJP in 2003. An advocate by profession, Khanna has been associated with several social service organisations. He was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha in 2004 and was a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from 2002 to 2004.
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11 victims of riots freed
Sangrur, May 12 All were from Delhi and had come to Sangrur during elections to lodge protest against the Congress candidate.
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Panel to probe sacrilege incident
Amritsar, May 12 He announced here today that Rajinder Singh Mehta and Jaswinder Singh Advocate from the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Bhai Major Singh of Akal Takht, Bhai Amrik Singh Ajnala from Satkar Committee, Giani Gurdev Singh Head Granthi of Gurdwara Hariyan Wela and Dr Gurjinder Singh would be part of the committee. He said the accused Harpreet Singh would be interrogated in the presence of the members and the proceedings would be videographed for its telecast to the sangat. He said primary investigation revealed that the accused, an addict, had already been registered under the NDPS Act and theft cases by the police. He said the widowed mother of the accused had disowned him.
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HC stays trial proceedings
Chandigarh, May 12 An application, filed by the public prosecutor for withdrawal of the prosecution regarding Dhillon, was dismissed on April 20 by Mohali special judge SK Garg. Describing the dismissal order as “apparent violation of the settled tenets of law”, the state sought its setting aside. The FIR was registered at Vigilance Bureau police station on August 29, 2002 under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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All key contenders were seen spending the day with party workers discussing the likely outcome of the results.
For Congress candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee, it was just another day of campaigning as the party workers reached his place early morning for a meeting and he was virtually left with no time to relax.
Chandigarh, May 12
