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BJP fields old warhorses from Jalandhar
Kalia’s procession bane of commuters
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CPI (ML) releases second list
Three held on murder charges
Gurdaspur police seeks more force for elections
BSF nabs Pak intruder
125 cases of illicit liquor seized, 2 held
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BJP fields old warhorses from Jalandhar
Jalandhar, January 3 All three sitting MLAs, including former Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia from the Jalandhar Central, Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari from the Jalandhar North and Deputy Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, Bhagat Chunni Lal from the Jalandhar West, have been chosen as the candidates to contest the polls. Even as there were reports of Mayor Rakesh Rathour trying to grab a ticket from the Jalandhar Central constituency and later from the Jalandhar North constituency, he has remained unsuccessful in getting the chance. Owing to this, Rathour and Kalia had been at loggerheads for quite sometime now. There also was a showdown between the two at an inauguration function two months ago. The Mayor had also carried out extensive rounds in the constituency in his preparedness for the polls, but it has proven to be a failure for him. The fact that the MC started reeling under a severe financial crunch since June 2011 also perhaps proved disastrous for Rathour. There had been protests by the contractors time and again and various works proposed by him, including developing sports hub at Burlton Park, solid waste treatment plant at Pholariwal and Nehru Garden renovation project remained non-starters. The Mayor’s clean administrative moves and mannerism in dealing with the general public and his good contacts with MPs Navjot Sidhu and Anurag Thakur and Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal were seen as his positive facets. Kalia, on the other hand, had made a good comeback even after being dropped from the Cabinet. He became the party’s state spokesman and got actively involved in party affairs. The biggest surprise for the residents was the repeat of octogenarian Bhagat Chunni Lal. Even as the Deputy Speaker tried his level best to seek a ticket for his son Mahinder Bhagat, his demand was not accepted. The senior Bhagat had remained inactive most of the time with his constituency having got least developed. The junior Bhagat, however, enjoyed his father’s position. Vijay Sampla had tried to get the ticket from the seat but he too remained unsuccessful in his attempt.
Kalia’s procession bane of commuters
Jalandhar, January 3
However, commuters were at the receiving end as they were left stranded in a traffic jam. Kalia’s took out the procession in violation of the election code of conduct. Kalia along with a battery of his supporters in open gypsies, motorcycles and cars took out a procession from the busy Rama Mandi Chowk to his residence in the Central Town locality of the city. He was coming from Delhi after having been allotted the party ticket from the Jalandhar Central constituency. His supporters in a long cavalcade of vehicles, decked up with party flags and posters shouted slogans on the beats of ‘dhol’ in favour of Kalia. His supporters included Subhash Sud, district president of the party, MC councillors and contractors. Kalia was about to reach Rama Mandi Chowk at 2.30 pm, but was late by around 1 hour 40 minutes, leading to a traffic blockade. This brought the entire traffic from Ludhiana, Phagwara and Rama Mandi towards the city to a halt. It was chaos at Rama Mandi chowk, where the BJP workers and Kalia’s supporters had gathered in large number to accord him a warm welcome. Even Kalia was ecstatic and responded to the gusto of his supporters by waiving to one and all. Till late evening, party workers kept flocking his residence to congratulate him When contacted, Jalandhar Central returning officer Iqbal Singh Sandhu said that Kalia had sought prior permission for the procession. He took permission of four loudspeakers and used just two of them. “Our video surveillance teams also recorded the procession of Kalia,” he added.
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CPI (ML) releases second list
Jalandhar, January 3 Ajmer Singh, state unit office-bearer of the party, said Kulwinder Singh Warraich would be the party candidate from Nawanshahr, Bupinder Singh Maan from Balachaur, Kashmir Singh Ghughshor from Shahkot, Sarban Singh Haidrabadi from Sultanpur Lodhi, Dhanwant Singh Khatrai Kalan from Ajnala, Rajkumar Pandori from Dinanagar, Phool Chand from Dera Baba Nanak and Mana Masih from Fatehgarh Churian.
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Three held on murder charges
Jalandhar, January 3 Those arrested have been identified as Manjinder Singh, a resident of Faridkot, Gobind Singh of Bhaini near Nathana in Bathinda district and Harish Lal of Harindra Nagar in Faridkot. They killed a youth identified as Billa in Rama Mandi on January 2. Three country-made pistols, 26 cartridges, two swords and a number of other sharp-edged weapons and a motorcycle have been recovered from them. They had shot at Billa and then attacked him with swords in full public view on Monday. Billa was declared brought dead at a hospital. Similarly, they had also killed one Deepak Chawla, a resident of Bhagta Bhaika village in Bathinda, and Kamal Kumar, a resident of Faridkot, at Bhagta Bhaika sometime back. "The gang killed Billa with the help of Rajwinder Singh, a resident of Faridkot, and Banti, a resident of Rama Mandi in Jalandhar. Other two murders were an outcome of a gang war. Three main accused have been hiding in Jalandhar for quite some time to escape from the Bathinda and Faridkot police. Banti, on whose directions they murdered Billa, had arranged a room on rent for all the three accused in Jalandhar," said Patiala IG Sham Lal Gakhar and Ropar DIG Naresh Arora. They said the accused were signalled to stop at a naka laid by the surveillance team of the Nawanshar police at Malla Sodhian in the district, but instead of stopping they tried to run away. "The police party chased them and the accused made an attempt to hide in a cane farm at Bisla. They also fired two shots at the police party before being over-powered by the policemen. Their two accomplices managed to escape. Police parties have been dispatched to nab them. The accused were not only working as contract killers, their leader Manjinder Singh, a self-styled president of the Faridkot auto-rickshaw union was forcibly taking 'hafta' from poor auto-rickshaw drivers of that city after threatening them with dire consequences," said Narinder Bhargav, SSP Nawanshahr. He said Manjinder was also into forcible recovery of money from Faridkot-based lottery operators. "The accused were planning to find some influential political leader so that they could work for him in the polls so that in return they could seek his help after the elections," said Bhargav. He added Bathinda, Faridkot and Jalandhar police have been intimated about the arrest of the three criminals. |
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Gurdaspur police seeks more force for elections
Gurdaspur, January 3 Out of a total of 625 polling booths and 484 polling stations, 342 booths and 236 stations have been declared as sensitive while 18 polling stations have been declared very sensitive. Importantly, all the stations which have been put in the ‘very sensitive’ category fall in Dinangar Assembly segment where large-scale sale of illicit liquor has left the police worried. SSP Varinder Pal Singh claimed that booths and stations had been declared sensitive and very sensitive based on their past record and density of population in all the five Assembly segments. The SSP, who is overseeing the arrangements pertaining to the poll process, said the Gurdaspur police had a total of 1,515 policemen out of which 1,126 were constables. He said 75 per cent of the police force would be on election duty while the rest will be manning police stations, chowkis and doing routine clerical work. He added he needed more force which in all likelihood will be coming from the Punjab Armed Police and other paramilitary forces. The police has also made arrangements to recall all licensed weapons issued to residents. Out of a total of 5,639 weapons, residents have deposited 3,729 to the police or to gun houses where people feel their “weapons will be safe as compared to those deposited in police stations.” Outlining the arrangements, the SSP said security would also be provided to election observers and candidates of political parties which are not recognised by the Election Commission of India (ECI). “Out of the 1,910 weapons which are yet to be deposited by the residents, there is a possibility that 900 odd weapons are likely to be deposited because there are nearly 1,000 licensed weapons which have been issued to Army officials in the nearby Tibri cantonment and to BSF officials. A majority of these officials have now been transferred and there is no likelihood of these being returned to the police,” added Varinder Pal Singh. |
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BSF nabs Pak intruder
Tarn Taran, January 3 A case under Sections 3, 34 and 20 of the Indian Passport Act, 1920, and Section 14 of the Foreign Act was registered by the Khalra police. The intruder was nabbed by the BSF party, headed by Mohinder Singh, Commandant of 45th Battalion of the BSF, police sources said here today. The accused was sent to Central Jail, Amritsar. |
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125 cases of illicit liquor seized, 2 held
Jalandhar, January 3 The accused have been identified as Jatinder Kumar and Bablu, both resident of Moga. Police officials said that during patrolling near Rama Mandi Chowk, cops intercepted a four-wheeler and signalled it to pull over. During checking, 125 cases of liquor was recovered in the vehicles. The accused had confessed that they had bought the liquor from a nearby village. The police has registered a case under the Excise Act and further investigations were on. |
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