Shimla, October 28
The Congress high command has taken a serious note of unsavoury incidents in the Rohru Assembly constituency, particularly humiliation inflicted on Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kaul Singh by a section of party workers during campaigning.

Acting promptly, it had sent Vijay Laxmi Sadho, secretary of the AICC, to Rohru to have a first hand account of the incidents on the very first day of the campaign when Kaul Singh was pushed around and asked to go back by party men who were enraged over denial of ticket to Pratibha Singh. Besides, they resorted to slogan shouting at the two public meetings and all this happened in the presence of Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Simultaneously, it had appointed senior party leader Jagmit Singh Brar as observer for by-election to ensure that such incidents were not repeated. He is expected to take charge tomorrow.

Sadho, who looks after the party affairs in Himachal under general secretary Moshina Kidwai, arrived here today and left for Rohru immediately.

Besides interacting with the party workers and local leaders, she will discuss the matter with both Kaul Singh and Virbhadra Singh before sending her report to the high command.

According to party sources, the high command had been upset over some remarks made by Virbhadra Singh at a press conference here.

The general view was that the remarks were not in good taste and a seasoned leader like him was not expected to act in such a manner.

However, the Congress campaign seems to be settling down after the initial hiccups and unpleasant incidents on the opening day. Virbhadra Singh and Kaul Singh canvassed for party candidate Manjit Singh in the land-locked Dodra Kwar yesterday and some areas around Rohru today.

Former Union Minster Sukh Ram’s son Anil Sharma also joined the campaign today. Virbhadra Singh was no more a reluctant campaigner and was backing Manjit as his candidate.

After the unsavoury incidents, Virbhadra Singh was under tremendous pressure to ensure victory of the party as in the event of defeat the blame would fall on him.

Kaul Singh said the party men were now working unitedly and he had held a series of successful election meetings along with Virbhadra Singh over the past two days.

The party would retain its stronghold, he added.

Dharamsala, October 28
The infighting in the BJP was out in the open today with the independent MLA from Nurpur Rakesh Pathania who has extended unconditional support to the BJP in assembly venting his ire against Kangra MP Rajan Sushant. Pathania at a press conference held here today announced that he would file a defamation case against Rajan Sushant.

He was reacting to the statement issued by Sushant just two days ago that Pathania was harming the interests of the BJP in Jawali assembly constituency.

He had indicated that Pathania was helping Madan Sharma, the brother of Rajan Sushant who after being denied the party ticket, was contesting as independent.

The sources here said Rajan Sushant was suspecting that Madan Sharma was being supported by the MLAs from the camp of the Chief Minister.

Rakesh Pathania alleged that Rajan Sushant was peeved at being denied the party ticket for his wife. It was, in fact, the Kangra MP, who wanted to defeat Baldev Raj Chaudhary, a common party worker who has been allotted the party ticket in place of the wife of Rajan Sushant.

‘I would, however, not let it happen and fully support the BJP candidate.’ Refuting the allegations that he was working against the party candidate, he said it was only due to his support that Rajan Sushant had managed considerable lead in Nurpur assembly segment in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Pathania said he contested the elections as independent as the party denied him the ticket. ‘I have proved that my decision was justified by winning the election as independent. However, I still consider myself as a worker of the BJP,’ he said.

Rakesh Pathania is considered close to the CM. He was denied ticket at the instance of former Chief Minister and BJP national vice-president Shanta Kumar.

He, however, contested as an independent and won. He later declared unconditional support to the BJP government.

Rajan Sushant was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him on phone.

His aide picked up the phone and said he was busy campaigning.

Dharamsala, October 28
Denial of ticket to Pratibha Singh, wife of Virbhadra Singh, is likely to change the political equations within the state Congress. This was stated by former Congress minister Vijay Singh Mankotia who had turned a rebel following differences with Virbhadra Singh. “This has opened all kinds of possibilities,” he said when asked by The Tribune if it could mean his return to the Congress in the near future.

Mankotia said after the denial of ticket to his wife, Virbhadra Singh had poisoned the political milieu in the state.

The Congress leadership have dealt a blow to Virbhadra Singh by denying ticket to his wife. The party leadership has finally realised that Virbhadra Singh is a spent force. The recent hue and cry about the denial of ticket to Pratibha Singh is being raised by those who, under the patronage of Virbhadra, had made politics a money making racket, he added.

Mankotia, who is a bete noire of Virbhadra Singh, left the Congress and joined the BSP just before the last Assembly elections. The 2 per cent vote that the BSP secured in the state played a major role in the defeat of many Congress candidates. Just a few months ago, Mankotia resigned from the BSP also. He later also announced retirement from active politics and floated People’s Court, a non-government organisation. However, now with Virbhadra Singh being sidelined by the party high command, Mankotia might also be eyeing his return to the Congress and active politics.

Dharamsala, October 28
Nobel laureates at a press conference held here today have said that non-violence struggles that were conceived by Mahatama Gandhi are powerful and can throw governments or change societies. Two Nobel laureates, including Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Jody Williams, who addressed the press conference were here to hand over the letter of support for Tibetan autonomy signed by eight counterparts to the Dalai Lama.

They said Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet affirmed critical values that the world was in danger of losing. They were a model for all of us, despite the attack on their people and the displacement of their culture they preached and practiced compassion and respect for the dignity of every person. Furthermore, by making a peaceful transition from ancient traditions of leadership by a small group of hereditary rulers to government by democratically elected leaders, Tibetans had set an admirable example. If a community exiled from their homeland and scattered across the world could come together and grew into a democratic society that respected human rights, every community could do so.

The Tibetans made an extraordinary choice to engage in peaceful non-violent protest to the destruction of their culture and the takeover of their homeland. ‘There are thousands of women and men in India, China, Burma, Singapore, Malaysia and all the countries of this region who are inviting their leaders to listen to their protests and respond with respect and compassion. It is a grave mistake for leaders to ignore them, or to mistake their nonviolent protest for weakness or surrender.

‘Tibet should be a zone of peace, free of nuclear weapons, where fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms are honored and the natural environment is restored and protected. There is no reason that the government of China and leaders all over the world who support the Tibetans should not work together to listen and respond to the voice of the Tibetan people by engaging in sincere negotiations on the future status of Tibet and of relations between the Tibetan and Chinese people,’ they said.

Bilaspur, October 28
District Welfare Officer Khem Chand here has said the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment had invited applications from members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minority Communities up to the age group of 35 years for a nine-month training in computer applications and allied trades throughout the state. The applications should be sent on a plain paper till the evening of October 30.

He said these applications should be submitted to respective district welfare officers of their district. The applicants must have passed class XII and belong to below poverty line (BPL) families while those families who have their income less than Rs 5,000 could also apply for training.

The training would start in each district from November 15 except Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur for which training would be held at Kullu and Shimla, respectively, at the same time.

The selected candidates should have their own arrangements of boarding and lodging while the department would bear fee expenditure of Rs 1,200 per candidate per month.

Mandi, October 28
CPM leaders today upped the ante against the central and the state governments, charging that while the UPA government had failed to control the price rise and ensure food security for the common man, the state government had failed to implement the provision of 70 per cent job quota at the ESIC Medical College at Ner Chowk.

The party would stage a protest rally at Ner Chowk on October 30.

After presiding over the party meeting here today, CPM general secretary Rakesh Singha said the state government had failed to implement the 70 per cent job quota provision for Himachalis in the Nagarjun construction company, contractor of the 300-bedded ESIC hospital.

“We will launch a stir at Ner Chowk and will hold rallies in Shimla and Mandi against the UPA government’s failure to control price rise, check hoardings and blackmarketeers and ensure food security for the common man in the coming months,” he said.

Singha said the party welcomed private medical colleges, but opposed attaching government hospitals to these colleges. Greenfield Medical College, under public private partnership, is a ploy to give public infrastructure to profit-making private party and it is a part of the UPA’s new policy to disinvest in public sector navratanas to the capitalists, he added.

Singha said the PDS system had collapsed in the state and the drought-hit farmers were the worst sufferers.

He said prices of essential commodities were rising as hoarders controlled the market. “Same holds true for petrol and diesel prices as the government has not cut duties on them,” he added.

He claimed that public sector still remained widely preferred probation in the country but the UPA and BJP state governments were hand in glove, privatising and liberalising public or government sector.

Singha said the UPA government’s new bills on food security under the Right to Food was full of shortcomings as it aimed at saving Rs 4,000 crore by reducing the Act to cover only antodya and BPL families and not the poor in general.

Singha said the UPA government was giving tax concession to industrialists running in lakhs of crores, but was not ready to shell out half of it for the country’s hungry millions. “We will launch a state-wide protest on these issues in November, December and January through a series of public protests,” he said.

Hamirpur, October 28
Hundreds of activists of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS) and the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) today held a protest march and a rally on the call of joint front of trade unions formed at the national level and also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through Hamirpur DC.

The activists, carrying placards and flags, raised slogans and marched through the bazaar and later addressed a rally near the DC office.

Addressing the rally, the leaders blamed polices of the central government for the price rise which had made the life of common man very difficult.

They said due to faulty economic policies of the central government, economic crisis had deepened in the country and more then 30 lakh workers had been retrenched. While industries have been given a bail-out package, workers have not been included in this package, they added.

The other issues which the trade unions highlighted through this protest were violation of labour laws, implementation of the unorganised sector Workers Bill, 2008, in true spirit by amending the provision in this bill and laying income limits for getting covered under this bill and opposing disinvestment of Navratan public sector undertakings (PSUs) like the NTPC.

The rally was addressed by national secretary of CITU Kashmir Singh Thakur, CITU district secretary Joginder Kumar, district president of BMS Rakesh Sharma, AITUC district secretary Mukesh Kumar and 
other leaders.

The leaders warned if the central government failed to take immediate steps to change its policies, check prices and implement labour laws, they would intensify their agitation.

Kangra, October 28
A 28-year-old woman alleged of being raped by a 31-year-old man for the past two years and even claimed to have a girl child from this illegitimate relationship.

Kangra Sub-Divisional Police Officer Jeet Singh Thakur said the woman lodged a complaint with the police that Mukesh Rana, a resident of Dhaliara, regularly raped her for the past nearly two years with a promise that he would marry her. He said the woman also alleged that she had an eight-month-old daughter from this relationship.

The SDPO said the woman was working in a private bank here when she got in touch with Rana who was also working in the same bank but was later shifted to Ludhiana. She alleged that Mukesh continued to rape her and was now marrying somebody else.

He said the police had registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC and a team was rushed to Mukesh’s residence, but he was absconding.

The SDPO said that the woman was not cooperating with the police in the investigation so further action was getting delayed.

However, the woman, on the other hand alleged that the police was not acting swiftly in the matter.