Jhajjar, January 13
Emerging as a power hub of the state with setting up of two mega projects here for generating power, this historical district also appears to have become a happy hunting ground for corrupt government officials.

Office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Rohtak range, which covers five districts of the state - Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal, has recently released a report regarding its special campaign “Bhrastachari Pakdo Abhiyaan” revealing that Jhajjar has achieved the top position among the districts where maximum government officials have reportedly been caught red-handed on the charges of accepting bribe during the past 21 months under the drive.

According to the information, a special police team constituted by IGP V. Kamaraja to nab corrupt officials has succeeded in arresting as many as 15 officials, including district revenue officer (DRO) of Sonepat and a police inspector of Rohtak, during the drive.

Sonepat district got the second position with five officials in the tally followed by Rohtak with three officials who were nabbed on corruption charges.

Significantly, the IGP team could not make it to apprehend any corrupt official in Panipat and Karnal districts.

While talking to The Tribune, Kamaraja said he had launched the drive on March 2009 to put those government officials behind the bar who were spoiling the system by seeking bribes from the public.

“I initiated the move from my own department when I nabbed an ASI Devender posted at the Kharkhoda police station in Sonepat district while accepting a bribe of `8,000 from a man in lieu of extending him undue favour during the investigation of a criminal case. Thereafter, I succeeded in arresting an accountant of BDPO at Beri town in Jhajjar district with the bribe money of `5,780. After three days of this case, I got tremendous success when my team nabbed three cops, including an ASI Abhey Singh, head constable Ompal and EHC Attar Singh posted at the Bahadurgarh city police station in Jhajjar district on the charge of demanding `20,000 to an accused of a criminal case,” said the IGP.

The major attainment of his drive was to arrest Sonepat DRO Vidya Sagar and an SHO of the Shivaji Colony police station Balwan Singh red-handed while accepting bribes of `50,000 and `3,000, respectively, said Kamaraja, adding that several complaints of spreading corruption against the two were lodged by the people with his office and he had to embark upon a special strategy to nab them.

“Then, my team arrested PNB’s manager Mukesh Gupta in Rohtak with Rs 4,000 as bribe for approving the loan, patwari Vedpal with Rs 5,000, Jhajjar ASI Ramphul and EHC Virender Singh with `50,000, Bahadurgarh patwari Mahender Singh with `3,000, HVPNL’s JE in Sonepat Pramod with `15,000, Sonepat ASI Ashok with `80,000, EHC in the Rohtak civil line police station Virender Singh with `1,000 as bribe for preparing a second-hand report of the summon issued by Ajmer (Rajasthan) Court in connection with a case of cheque bounce,” said the IGP.

Kamaraja said the drive would continue this year as well. He also appealed the people residing in the five districts of the range to inform his office about those government officials who demand bribe from them.

Hisar, January 13
Consumers are unlikely to get any respite from the rising prices of green vegetables in Haryana if the price outlook released by the Department of Agricultural Economics of Haryana Agricultural University is any indication.

The university’s Agricultural Market Intelligence Centre is of the view that barring tomato, the prices of brinjal, peas and potato are likely to rise towards the end of this month and in February and March next.

After surveying the wholesale market and crop outlook and analysing the price trends of the past 10 years, the university economists believe that due to a long cold spell in north India, including Haryana, the price of brinjal during January is likely to hover around `350 to `450 per quintal. However, the prices will go up in February to `450 to `500 per quintal and to `525 to `600 per quintal in March.

There is wide variation in the area under tomato in different districts of the state. The highest area is in Karnal district, followed by Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Ambala.

So far as green peas are concerned, the rain and snowfall in upper hills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and the cold spell in Punjab and Haryana have adversely affected production. Thus the prices of green peas are likely to rise in February and March.

The economists expect the price of green peas during January around `1450 to `1550 per quintal. In February, the price may rise to `1600 to `1800 per quintal and to `1750 to `1900 per quintal in March.

The outlook for potato is also not rosy. The economists say the price of potato during January will be `400 to `550 per quintal. While in February the price may range between `550 to `650 per quintal and `575 to `675 per quintal in March.

They say with deficient rainfall in West Bengal and unseasonal rain in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat they had to adopt a wait-and-watch policy. Potatoes in cold storage are currently being used to meet the demand. The cold storage potato was supposed to be offloaded by November 30 last year. But that did not happen due to procedural delays.

Leading processing companies are now sourcing potatoes from farm gates and mandis in Punjab and Haryana. The wholesale prices may ease after the arrival of new produce from the potato-producing states of Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat. However, the continuing cold spell in the potato-growing regions may adversely affect the production of late-sown potato.

Tomato is, however, expected to cost slightly lower in February and March as compared to the prices now. The economists have concluded that in January, the price will hover between `1350 and `1500 per quintal. The outlook for February is `1200 to `1400 per quintal and in March it is expected to be around `1000 to `1150 per quintal.

However, farm economists warn that the expected exports to Pakistan and Bangladesh, coupled with rain and snowfall in the hill areas and a long cold spell in the north and North-Eastern states may lead to a steep hike in prices in the coming months.

The university regularly issues the price outlook to help farmers decide the time of sale depending on crop conditions and market prices.

Sirsa, January 13
The incident of interception of a truck carrying 523 bags of wheat allegedly siphoned off from a storehouse of HAFED at Kalanwali has brought revealed several loopholes associated with the management of food grains.

The police had stopped the truck on January 3 after a tip-off that the wheat was being illegally drained out of the storehouse by some unscrupulous officials.

The driver of the truck managed to escape and there is no taker for the wheat till today. A high-level team of HAFED appointed by its MD Anil Malik has completed the inquiry and its report is awaited.

The incident reveals how unscrupulous officials of the food grain management agencies take benefit of the system and norms fixed by the FIC to earn extra money.

All procurement agencies of the state government store and manage wheat in their storehouses on behalf of the FCI and they have to deliver the food grains to the central agency as and when demanded.

As per the specifications of the FCI, the state government procurement agencies have to give an additional quantity of 350 gram per bag for wheat stacked in the open plinths and 500 gram per bag for that stacked in the covered storehouses for the wheat delivered to the FCI after June 30 and before March 31.

The FCI demands this extra wheat in view of the storage gain due to moisture in the atmosphere. The actual weight gain, the sources said, was sometimes much more. To add more weight to the food grains some storehouse managers go to the extent of sprinkling water and even uncover their stacks during rains.

“I do not indulge in any malpractice and yet the storage gains in the storehouse under my charge are 600 grams per bag,” revealed an official of the FCI.

Till last year, the state government had higher specifications for storage gains and store managers were supposed to deliver wheat as per the norms that were different for each month starting from July depending upon the humidity during these months.

Extra funds so received after giving the storage gains demanded by the FCI went to the procurement agency’s account.

However, the government lowered its storage gain norms to bring those on a par with those of the FCI on demand of officials of the state procurement agencies, who rued that they had to pay from their pockets to give the extra gains demanded by the government.

The move to lower its specifications for the storage gain has helped certain unscrupulous elements in different procurement agencies to make a quick buck by pilfering small quantities by poking “parkhi” (a tool used for drawing samples from packed bags) in the bags stacked in storehouses.

For this, such elements go to the extent of sprinkling water on the stacks, although it lowers the quality of the food grains and complaints of supply of discoloured wheat to the poor under the PDS or children under the anaganwari or midday meal schemes are often received.

However, it is not that every official of the agencies is dishonest or indulge in malpractices. Sources reveal that several times, honest officials have to pay through their nose to meet the requirements of the FCI.

Sources say much depends on the quality of wheat received by them at the time of procurement. If they manage to get good quality of wheat, they do not face any problem. However, if they get wheat with high moisture contents, they are bound to lose as the food grains would certainly lose weight after some time due to drying.

Sources in the procurement agencies reveal that political and bureaucratic pressure during the procurement season force them to buy wheat with high moisture content that eventually results in huge financial losses to the officials responsible for its handling.

Rohtak, January 13
The Society for People’s Advancement, Technology and Heritage, an NGO based here, has asked the state and the Union governments to find an alternative site for the proposed nuclear power plant in Fatehabad.

The society has taken up the matter in view of the resistance put up by residents of some villages, particularly Gorakhpur, says NGO spokesperson. Trouble has been brewing up in various villages around Gorakhpur ever since the NPCIL announced the acquisition of land for raising a nuclear power plant of 2800 MW capacity.

Its sociological, economical, environmental and scientific aspects have to be examined in detail and debated publically before the start of fundamental exercise to establish such a plant in the vicinity of populated villages, he adds.

He says it is surprising that several organisations such as HARSAC and other institutions of central and state governments located in Hisar have turned mute spectators and consider that there is no worthwhile role for them to intervene.

“It is presumed that the geophysical features of the land, comprising four villages, Badopal, Kajalheri, Kumharia and Gorakhpur, and the availability of water have been taken into account before the land was selected and an announcement made to this effect.

Obviously, there was also a political push to this project,” it is commented.

According to the NGO, it is well known that without electricity, the future is bleak and the people will have to suffer a lot in the absence of regular power supply. While there have been violent agitations in the area on account of erratic power supply, the government will have to go ahead with the projects to generate more power and improve the situation to ensure a balanced growth and to provide basic amenities to the people.

However, it is added that the fear of the residents over the adverse fallouts of a nuclear plant, including emission of hazardous radioactive gases, is required to be addressed. The nuclear power is the cleanest and most reliable source of energy and its core containers are very robust and the alloy materials used do not corrode easily, it is claimed.

Another concern of the villagers is that the land is fertile, which they have owned since generations and to which they are emotionally attached and the recent decision might dislocate them.

Rewari, January 13
The Maharana Pratap Jayanti Samiti has taken an exception to the indifferent approach of the Union government as well as parliamentarians of the opposition parties for not paying floral tributes on the occasion of birth and death anniversary of Maharana Pratap and over 36 other national heroes whose statues lie in the complex of the Parliament House in Delhi.

Besides, the Samiti has also lamented the non-circulation of previously-released commemorative coins of Maharana Pratap.

In a communication sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, samiti chief Naresh Chauhan asserted that Maharana Pratap, the legendary hero of Mewar, who relentlessly pursued the noble ideals of genuine secularism, robust patriotism and indomitable courage till the last moment of his life, was still a source of inspiration for the nation. Chauhan said he was an indomitable crusader of freedom whose sacrifices could never be forgotten.

Stating that with the sole exception of paying floral tributes at the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar, no commemoration events were held in front of the statues of other national heroes, Chauhan urged the Prime Minister to direct the authorities to organise a function to mark the 414th death anniversary of Maharana Pratap on January 19.

Simultaneously, recalling that commemorative coins of `100, `10 and `1 denominations in the memory of Maharana Pratap were released by the Vajpayee-led NDA government in Delhi on June 4, 2003, Chauhan regretted that the coins were still awaiting their circulation in the market. He, therefore, urged the Prime Minister to get them introduced in the market for the general public expeditiously.

Rewari, January 13
Notwithstanding his non-occupancy of a ministerial berth in the present UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh, Congress MP Rao Inderjit Singh, son of a former chieftain of the Ahirwal region and also a former Union Minister late Rao Birender Singh, has been persistently drawing huge crowds which palpably indicate that he is deeply connected with the masses of the Ahirwal region.

Addressing a gathering at Kharagwas village, near here recently, Rao said his non-inclusion in the Union Cabinet this time was not depressing for him as it was prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Simultaneously, mentioning about the massive mandate given to him by the electors of the Gurgaon Parliamentary Constituency, he asserted that he had always raised his voice for the rightful problems of the people and would continue to do so in the future as well irrespective of the fact whether he was in the Cabinet or not.

Recalling that his father Rao Birender Singh, by formally merging his own Vishal Haryana Party with the Congress here on September 23, 1978, in the presence of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had lent strength and vigour to the Congress as well as the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when the Congress and Indira Gandhi herself were passing through a lean phase, he said since then he had been serving the Congress as its dedicated soldier.

Further mentioning about the previous Lok Sabha elections when the Congress in Haryana was given 9 of the 10 MPs by the electorate, Rao said now it was for them to address the concerns of the people to the best of their capacity.

As regards the Ahirwal peasantry’s main demand for canal water, he lamented that even the presidential reference made in regard to the validity of the Punjab Termination of Water Accords Act had been pending in the apex court for the past about seven years.

Asserting that the welfare of the peasantry here was integrally linked to the long-awaited verdict of the Supreme Court, he said there was an urgency to do the needful to ameliorate the farmers’ lot here.

Mentioning about the ongoing acquisition of farmers’ land in various villages of the Bawal and Dharuhera areas by the HSIIDC, he wanted genuine implementation of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s solemn counsel that farmers’ fertile land should be acquired only with their concurrence.

Later, Rao also addressed meetings and listened to the grievances of residents at Patuhera and Kasaula villages of the Bawal segment.

Chandigarh, January 13
More than 1,000 MW of power, 1,019 MW to be exact, enough to make the state self-reliant, can be generated from the surplus agricultural and forest biomass available in Haryana, reveals a study conducted by the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA). The state is currently generating 128.11 MW from renewable energy sources.

The study says that the net surplus biomass available after consumption by way of domestic use and subtraction of sugarcane biomass, is 8,4.16 lakh tonnes, which holds the potential of producing 1019 MW of power. The maximum potential exists in Sirsa district (131 MW), followed by Karnal (122 MW), Kaithal (89 MW); Kurukshetra (84 MW) and Fatehabad (78 MW).

The study has drawn estimates of the total generation of biomass and utilisation and surplus available from different crops in various blocks by using satellite data made available by the Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC), Hisar.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who released the study, said the use of biomass for electricity generation would not only make the state self-reliant in power but also provide additional income to farmers, and result in employment generation in the rural areas. The study would be very useful in deciding where to set up biomass-based power projects in the state.

Haryana Renewable Energy Minister Mahender Pratap Singh said biomass constituted an important energy source for developing countries like India. Biomass-based power generation was emerging as an attractive option to meet the growing energy demands.

Conscious of the need for developing renewable energy-based power generation, the government notified its policy on generation of electricity through renewable energy sources in November, 2005. The policy aims at creating conditions conducive for involvement of the private sector or public-private sector participation in renewable energy sources-based power projects. The policy provides various incentives, including exemption from change of land use charges; local area development tax, electricity duty etc, wheeling and banking facility; and power purchase agreement for 20 years or more.

Giving details of the power purchase policy, Madhusudan Prasad, Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary, Renewable Energy Department, said power from biomass projects was purchased by the state power distribution companies for Rs 4 per unit with 2007-08 as the base year with an annual escalation 2 per cent for 2008-09 and 3 per cent from 2009-10 to 2012-13.

Presently, 128.11 MW is being generated from renewable energy sources in the state, and projects for 233.58 MW are under various stages of installation.

Kurukshetra, January 13
The tae kwon do team of Markanda National College, Shahabad, won the Kurukshetra University Championship in the inter-college tournament that concluded here recently.

Stating this, Dr Vinay Kumar Malhotra, college principal, said Sandeep and Jitender, both of BA III, and Narinder Singh BA-I, bagged gold medals in different weight categories while Baljinder Singh of BA-I won a silver and Parminder Singh of BA-I won a bronze medal.

Dr Malhotra said Sandeep, Jitender and Narinder had been selected by Kurukshetra University for the All-India Intervarsity Championship to be held soon. Earlier, during the current academic session, the college had also won the university handball championship, he added.

He also appreciated efforts of college players and guidance of the college sports committee, comprising B. Tanwar, Harpal Singh and Sanjay Kumar for these achievements.

Gurgaon, January 13
State Director of Census Operations Neerja Shekhar has appealed to all residents to get themselves counted during the second and last phase of census from February 9 to 28.

Addressing the officers related to census work of all six districts falling in the Gurgaon division here yesterday, Shekhar pointed out that during the first phase of census carried out in Haryana during May-June last year, all houses located in the state and the people living in them were counted whereas in the second and last phase, all persons living in the country (and not only Indian citizens) would be counted.

"The data so prepared will be used in the formulation of schemes and policies of the future. During the 20 days of the census, detailed information of the individuals like date of birth, religion, level of education, mother tongue, number of languages known, marital status, economic activities undertaken and fertility details will be registered by the enumerators," she maintained.

Shekhar disclosed that the counting of homeless population would be done by February 28, in which the nomadic population, including workers at constructions sites, stone-crushers, truck unions, railway stations, bus stands, red-light areas and people sleeping under flyovers and in dhabas would be covered. The mapping of these areas would be done before February 28, she added.

She said a person should be counted only at one place and if a visitor had come to stay during those 20 days, he/she would be counted at the place of visit. There would be a revision round from March 1 to 5, during which a quick count of births and deaths would be made.

The work of census will be completed in the entire country by March 5 and provisional figures will be released by the Registrar General of India by March 31. Thereafter, a post enumeration survey of a enumerator block will be conducted through an independent agency and if the error in census data is found to be less than 2 per cent, then the census operation will be considered correct. She revealed that this time, a new category "others" had also been added in the column of sex.

Gurgaon Divisional Commissioner TK Sharma said 3,565 enumerator blocks had been formed for conducting the census operations in Gurgaon, while 1,901 blocks were there in Mewat, 3,079 in Faridabad, 1,937 blocks in Palwal, 1,749 in Rewari and 1,819 enumerator blocks in Mahendragarh.

Chandigarh, January 13
The state government has sought comments from all heads of departments on its proposal that the recruiting agencies of different departments, public undertakings, boards, corporations, Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC), Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) will hold their annual examinations for recruitment on pre-determined dates so that the candidates do not have to apply time and again.

In a written communication, Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati has asked all Financial Commissioners and Principal Secretaries, heads of departments, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Registrars of all universities and MDs of boards and corporations to submit their comments on this proposal within a week so that a policy decision could be taken to implement it, as announced by the Finance Minister in his budget speech.

Thereafter, the departments will be asked to carry out the necessary changes in their service rules as per decision of the government.

As per this proposal, the Haryana Public Service Commission will annually conduct the combined engineering services examination, combined agriculture and allied services examination and combined legal and allied services examination whereas the HSSC will conduct the combined graduate-level examination, Junior engineers and allied services examination, clerks grade examination, combined drivers test and steno-typists or stenographers examination.

The minimum eligibility qualifications in respect of similar-category posts shall be uniform in departments, boards, corporations, companies and societies. Moreover, there shall be a uniform application form in a computer readable format and self-certified copies of certificates relating to caste, residency, age, physical handicap, etc. will be accepted at the application stage.

The original certificates shall be checked only at the time of interview and joining of selected candidates. Apart from it, all fresh recruits will undergo mandatory induction training for three months after joining so that they are well prepared for their respective jobs before they are given postings.

Kurukshetra, January 13
“The skills I acquired at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kurukshetra, always play a crucial role in my professional life,” said Anil Kaul, CEO, Absolute Data Research and Analytics, and founder of one of the biggest data analytic firms, while sharing his thoughts and experiences with students of the NIT, here, recently.

The interaction was described by some students as a lifetime experience. An alumnus of Cornell University, Kaul also shared some of his lighter moments at NIT.

Using real-life incstances, including the one in which he helped his wife choose a house through data analysis, Kaul explained how the field of data analytics was developing and how it would help business organisations make effective decisions.

“With a huge amount of data being generated every day, it has become crucial for the companies to extract relevant information out of it, both reliably and easily. And in today’s age, data analytics can act as a source of competitive advantage for any company,” Kaul said.

His example of finding the most suitable plan for weight reduction for himself drew wide applause from the audience.

Recalling, his days at the institute, he mentioned the important role the NIT had played in developing his knowledge, skills and aptitude. He even dedicated some of the essential skills of consultancy to the time spent idling away and being able to crunch the entire semester’s syllabus in just two weeks that helped him develop an attitude to organise and structure complex data in a pressure situation, sipping tea at nearby tea-stalls that helped improve his ability to relate to people at all levels, and frequent leg-pulling and other such activities that made him an effective communicator.

Kaul concluded his lecture by advising students, “After you graduate, there are two things that you need to develop. The first thing is to develop an understanding of how an organisation works and second is to choose your field of specialisation. In order to succeed, you must always stand out from the crowd. Remember, hard work and dedication are the basic elements of success.”

Panipat, January 13
With the mercury dipping to new lows this winter, the demand for power in the state remained high as compared to other neighboring northern states.

According to a report by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), power demand in Haryana was 985 lakh units whereas the same was 960 lakh units in Punjab. The power consumption in Haryana was 914 lakh units and the state overdrew 176 lakh units from the Northern Grid to meet the demand. The scheduled drawl for Haryana was 233 lakh units whereas it drew 408 lakh units.

The unit number 2 of the Panipat thermal plant is under scheduled annual maintenance from October 25 to February 5, while unit 6 is down due to boiler leakage and is likely to be revived soon.

The unit 1 of Khedar reportedly generated 440 MW of power after its revival on Tuesday. The two units at Yamunanagar thermal plant added 280 MW of power each to the total power generation in the state, which was recorded at 1941 MW.

Meanwhile, in view of Delhi's inability to utilise all power allocated to it, Haryana had requested the Union Power Ministry to restore its previous allocation of 750 MW from the Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Plant Stage-I, apart from allocating all power to be generated from the 1320 MW Stage-II of the same project.

Kaithal, January 13
Some miscreants made an unsuccessful attempt to loot cash amounting to Rs 8 lakh from an ATM of the Union Bank of India installed in the premises of RKSD College, here, recently.

Their attempt was foiled due to the arrival of ATM’s guard on the spot and siren of a police patrol vehicle passing through the area.

The criminals failing to break open the cash box of the ATM detached it and tried to load it on a cycle rickshaw, but they had to flee in view of the adverse situation.

According to information, the ATM guard locked the booth at 3 am and went to have a cup of tea in the nearby house of a college employee.

The miscreants taking advantage of his absence broke open the booth, switched off the lights and broke the installed CCTV camera while trying to loot the cash.

The guard later informed Prem Bathla, senior accountant, who reached the spot and informed the police and higher officials about the incident.

SP Simardeep Singh inspected the site and fingerprint experts were also summoned. The police has registered a case.

Faridabad, January 13
While the ruling Congress has decided to improve coordination between the party and the government to further consolidate its base, the BJP is making all out efforts to make the NDA’s February 6 Rohtak rally a success.

The INLD, on the other hand, is said to be keenly watching the response to the BJP-led NDA rally. Sources in the INLD said the party would focus on the Jat heartland till the time of the rally. Perhaps, this is to prevent the BJP to gather support from the area, especially the state’s hinterland.

According to sources, in a recent meeting, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and HPCC president Phool Chand Maulana, felt the need for more interaction between workers and party leaders and the government, right from the grass-roots level to the highest echelons. Hooda is said to have stressed on more effective coordination between the party cadres and the government.

Hooda has further stressed that the welfare measures and schemes of the UPA must be taken by the party’s structures to the masses.

The ruling party has already decided to hold a three-day state-level “Rozgaar Mela” in Panchkula, starting January 19. The programme is being organised under Central Government’s 20-point programme of which Maulana is the deputy chairman in Haryana. A senior party functionary said the event would help the unemployed get jobs as per their skills and qualifications. Functionaries of several private firms, among others, have been asked to attend the event and choose candidates for jobs as per their requirements.

On the programmatic action front, the Congress is in the midst of holding public meetings that are being jointly addressed by Hooda and Maulana. A party leader has stressed that the workers at the ground level are confident and optimist of successfully taking on its opponents on the basis of development works done by the government across the state. He further maintained that the opponents of the Congress in Haryana were finding it difficult to take on the Chief Minister and they had not been able to dent his good public image.

Krishanpal Gurjaar, president state BJP, however, said the NDA’s proposed “Mahasangraam” rally in Rohtak would expose the UPA government’s acts of omission and commission, corruption, price rise etc. The BJP has already held two state-level meetings of it office-bearers and Gurjaar has personally visited 16 districts so far to mobilise support for the rally.

The INLD, which is currently holding meetings of its workers at the district level, is said to be keenly watching the progress of the BJP with regard to the NDA rally. The ideal scenario for the INLD would be to project itself as the only alternative opposition party, the sources added.