Jaspal Rana to join Congress
But his father to stay in BJP
Ajay Ramola

Mussoorie, January 5
The fallout of the distribution of ticket debacle in the Bhartiya Janata Party camp has left the family of ace shooter Jaspal Rana a divided lot. Jaspal Rana after exhausting his energy in seeking the BJP ticket for his father from Dhanolti has finally decided to quit the party and join the Congress.

Narayan Singh Rana, senior BJP leader and also close relative of national president Rajnath Singh, after failing in his effort to convince the high command to re-distribute the ticket in his favour, has also acknowledged that Jaspal Rana is leaving the BJP and joining the Congress.

Narayan Singh Rana making a complete U-turn on his earlier statement said, “Jaspal Rana has been influenced by Rahul Gandhi and his commitment towards the youth of the country and, therefore, had been contemplating joining the Congress since several months and recent events will have also forced him to finally quit the BJP”.

Narayan Singh Rana also said he had no say in his son’s decision but as far as he was concerned, he would remain a loyal soldier of the BJP.

This election has finally divided the father and son duo in two opposite camps thus proving that “politics is an art of possible”.

The Congress by this move is trying to make dent in the vote share of the BJP among the youth. How far they will succeed only time will tell?

Meanwhile, the state Congress leaders are mum over the issue of Jaspal joining the Congress and insiders believe that announcement can come within a day or two. 

200 supporters quit BJP
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 5
Revolt in the BJP rank and file in Kumaon region further intensified today as more than 200 supporters of Kapkot sitting MLA Sher Singh Garia and more than a dozen supporters of Mohan Ram Arya, a party ticket aspirant from Someshwar Assembly segment, have sent their resignations to the party high command.

Sher Singh Garia announced at Bageshwar that he would call meeting of his supporters and villagers in Kapkot on January 7, and if the workers and supporters agree to his decision to contest as an independent, he would file the nomination.

“I want evaluation of my two year’s work as MLA by the party and if my work seems less than that done in the last 10 years in the area, I would opt out of the contest,” said Garia.

The BJP workers who resigned in support of Garia from the BJP include leader of Kapkot college student president, block development committee (BDC) members and members of BJP Nyaya panchayat unit at various nyaya panchayats in Kapkot area.

“If the party does not change the decision on the Kapkot seat, the next step would be announced on January 7 meeting at Hichori in Kapkot area,” said Rajesh Mehta, president of the students union of the local PG College.

In Someshwar the ticket aspirant and Almora zila panchayat chairman Mohan Ram Arya maintained his rebellious posture on second day today as more than a dozen workers of Majkhali, Syahi Devi and Takula area of Someshwar Assembly seat today sent their resignations to the party high command. The leaders who sent their resignations to the party include Mahendra Rawat, president of the BJP Syahi Devi Mandal unit and Mazkhali unit president Harish Parihar. Acording to BJP sources in Almora, the resentment among party workers in Almora seat is getting momentum after announcement of the ticket and non-inclusion of Kailash Sharma from the seat. “The people of Almora feel that Kailash Sharma has remained with them despite the fact that he was not an MLA from the last five years,” said Arvind Singh Bisht, president of the Almora district unit of the BJP.

According to Bisht, as 216 senior BJP workers have resigned from the party in protest against the decision of the party on Almora seat, Kailash Sharma has been summoned by party senior leaders to Dehradun.

In Champawat, Beena Maharana kept distance from the media and party workers for the second day today. There were rumors of her joining Congress Party in Champawat town.

Samajwadi Party leader shot at
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 5
In a sensational incident, a political leader hailing from the Samajwadi Party was shot at in broad daylight on the Haridwar-Najibabad road near Shyampur.

Anand Sharma, who is a contender of party ticket from Haridwar,was going towards Shyampur for sightseeing of a vacant land plot when the incident occurred.

When he arrived at the main road, a youth named Ashish Rastogi fired on him three bullet. Passersby informed the Shyampur police station and immediately he was taken to the district hospital.

On seeing his condition grave, he was referred by attending doctors to Jolly Grant Hospital. Anand Sharma has identified the assailant as Ashish Rastogi, resident of Brahampuri, as per police officials.

A case has been registered against Rastogi, and till the filing of the report, raids were being conducted at his residence and other places.

Both Sharma and Rastogi are property dealers and the police is looking into business rivalry angle.While political rivalry is also being not refuted by the police as Sharma has been in the running for the party ticket from Haridwar assembly segment.

BJP workers clash
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 5
The much-touted discipline of the BJP was put to shame by the angry supporters of sitting MLAs who have been denied tickets for the coming Assembly elections.

There were scuffles, fist fights and sloganeering as the supporters of Govind Lal Shah (sitting MLA from Tharali) and Magan Lal, who has got the ticket from Tharali, clashed with one other.

At the party headquarters yesterday, the Shah said the party had rewarded a rebel leader of the party, “He had stood against me in the last elections as a rebel candidate and lost heavily. Now, he has been rewarded. I do not know, why they ignored my candidature. After the Pindar Assembly seat was merged into the Tharali seat, I had started working here in the hope that I would be rewarded but the party has instead fielded a rebel,” 
said Shah.

Supporters of BP Makwana who was hopeful of getting the ticket from Rajpur, too, expressed their anger. “They should have nominated someone from the Valmiki community,” said Arun Chauhan, vice-president of the SC/ST cell of the BJP.

Though Uttarakhand Education Minister Matbar Singh Kandari has been allotted the ticket from Devprayag, his son Rajiv Kandari, a ticket seeker from Sahaspur, was not as lucky as his father. Angry at being denied the ticket, Rajiv Kandari today resigned from the primary membership of the party along with his supporters.

Rajiv Kandari, a coordinator of the BJP state sports cell, submitted his resignation letter to the secretary of the Uttarakhand election campaign committee Naresh Bansal yesterday.

“I am submitting my resignation in protest against the denial of ticket. The party did not give me ticket on the pretext that the party does not give tickets to more than one member of a family,” said Kandari.

He also questioned the party’s decision to deny ticket to several sitting MLAs.

Leaders throng temples, seek saints’ blessings
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 5
As elections are nearing in the state, so are politicians finding nearness with both the Almighty and the masses. While this is the time when politicians throng voters’ houses, they are also not leaving religious shrines and blessings of revered gurus to make sure their political boats sail through the Assembly elections.

With Haridwar being a religious-pilgrim city, not only politicians from the district but also from the whole state and other parts of the country are coming here for worship and prayers as countdown to elections has commenced.

Firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharati, who is party election in charge of Uttar Pradesh, visited the revered shrine of Siddhpeeth Shri Dakshin Kali Mandir yesterday and performed rituals.

With BJP is having a tough time in UP, particularly post inducting of controversial former Mayawati governments family welfare Minister Babu Ram Kushwaha,Bharati’s religious visit to the city is being related to her seeking blessings for better performance of the party in UP.

Similarly, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen(retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri had paid obeisance at Daksheshwar Maha Dev Temple in Kankhal prior to commencement of the party’s election campaign.

Former legislator from Pauri segment Mohan Singh Rawat also paid a visit to various temples like Maya Devi, Dakshin Kali Mandir and even held a meeting with Haridwar party office-bearers at a temple-cum-ashram last week.

In a unique religious visit, Kushwaha Saini Vikas Sangh chief Arvind Kushwaha peformed a religious rite at Shri Dakshin Kali Temple to make sure all the voters cast their votes in the upcoming Assembly elections in six states.

Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat is associated with Chetan Jyoti Ashram and said that he was visiting the ashram not only during election time but would also visit it after these were over.

“Religion and spirituality are always present in our conscience and as it is election time, media focuses more on our moves. But in normal circumstances, too, we pray but that goes unnoticed,” said leader of Oppositon from Congress Harak Singh Rawat, who is a regular visitor to the pilgrim city.

Religious-spiritual gurus such as Shankaracharya Swami Raj Rajeshwaram, Swami Kailashanand Brahamchari don’t term political leaders visits as election oriented.

They say that most of them were regular devotees and sought their blessings as well as guidance from time to time; so this should be not related with election aspect only.

What is noteworthy is that all these politicians visiting temples term their visit as personal and religious but presence of party activists and in midst of election hullabaloo, one can’t but feel that somewhere blessings are being sought from the Almighty for electoral victory.

But mixing politics with religion may backfire also in this election time, as was faced by state Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik recently. He was booked by Haridwar segment election returning officer Jyoti Yadav under the moral code of conduct for distributing clothes at an ashram premises.

‘Road nahin to vote nahin’
Rajeev Khanna/TNS

Nainital, January 5
Despite having the reputation for having drawn the “road map” of India during his tenure as a Union Minister, the Chief Minister, BC Khanduri, and his BJP would have a tough time clearing the “road blocks” set up by the electorate in large parts of the state.

For the electorate has come up with a slogan and programme of its own for the coming elections which reads: “Road nahin to vote nahin” (no votes if there are no roads).

Residents of a large number of villages in the state have just one issue in mind for the polls: road connectivity. It has been well proved that the socio-economic profile of villages that have got road connectivity has gone up while the people of the villages where there has been no connectivity have had to suffer despite having the best of resources.

Over the past one year, Kumaon has witnessed several agitations with the people having clearly threatened to boycott the poll if road connectivity was not given to them by the government.

Perhaps, the Chief Minister was aware that the threat was for real as the first thing that he got down to after taking over the charge once again as the Chief Minister was to order repairs of the roads that had been damaged in the rains in two successive years. He had also ordered the opening of the link roads leading to the villages that had been bocked.

Roads were one sector where his predecessor Dr Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank had fared miserably and had not shown the political “foresight” to understand the political importance of the issue.

While General Khanduri did manage to get a large number of roads repaired in the brief three-month stint and to get those blocked opened, he has not been able to address the issue of construction of roads that have been in the project phase for years. Ironically, the villagers say that some of these roads had been approved during the tenure of former Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari.

There have been several agitations on the issue of roads over the past 12 months. Recently, the residents of as many as 17 villages in the Dhurafat area of Betalghat block of Nainital district had staged a massive protest in the Kaushyakutaoli tehsil premises in November.

Another recent example came from the Dhari area of Nainital district on the issue of non-implementation of a decision to extend the Kasiyalekh-Parbada road up to Dhari. The protesters claimed that the project had been cleared during theND Tiwari regime but no one has shown the sincerity to execute it as the project was shelved after the road was built over a stretch of 8 km.

URM second list of 11 candidates out
Tribune News Service

Dehradun January 5
The Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha (URM) released its second list of 11 candidates for the ensuing Assembly elections in the state. Vice-president, URM, Lt General (retired) Shailender Raj Bahuguna, presided over the core committee meeting and announced 11 names.

These are: Brigadier (retired) Surender Singh Patwal from Chobatakhal, Barghav Chandola, social worker from Doiwala, Prakash Krayat from Ranikhet, Manohar Lal Pahari from Pauri, Rajender Prasad Bhatkoti from Raipur, Jagdish Balmiki from Bajpur, Kailash Chander Rai from Champavat, Capt (retired) Gobind Singh Bora from Kupkot, Baldev Singh Rawat from Haridwar (rural), Gurdip Singh Sahota from Dehradun Cantt and Arjuni Rana from Chakrata.

Brigadier (retired) Surender Singh Patwal, who has been given the ticket from Chobatakhal, has been central commandant, Garhwal Rifles, that represents the maximum number of ex-servicemen in the state. Initially,

he exhibited reluctance in fighting the elections, but after motivation from party leaders, he became ready to contest from Chobatakhal.

Capt (retd) Gobind Singh Bora and Barghav Chandola, son of a retired BSF personnel, also comes from ex-servicemen’s community.

Mahnohar Lal Pahari and Jagdish Balmiki belong to the Scheduled Caste Tribes.

Since URM is fighting on 60 seats, it has announced 25 candidates till now. On the rest, party spokesman, PC Thapliyal, said the panel of constituencies has been prepared and names of candidates were being finalised. 

BJP ticket to Kaleem a blow to Cong
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 5
For the first time since the creation of Uttarakhand in 2000, the Bharatiya Janata Party has given ticket to a Muslim party worker, which is being seen as a step to gain mass hold among the minorities by the party high command.

Veteran party leader Kaleem Ansari has been given party ticket from the Mangalore Assembly segment falling in Haridwar district.

According to sources, this step has been taken owing to the majority of voters hailing from the minority community, impact of delimitation and the lackluster performance of its candidates in this region in the past three Assembly elections.

A long political family background of Kaleem Ansari and his image of a dedicated party worker have also gone in his favour.

If Ansari wins this seat, then he will be third in his family to be making his presence felt in any state Assembly. As his grandfather Abdul Hamid Ansari was a legislator in Uttar Pradesh Assembly three times from Laksar.

Then his uncle Saeed Ahmed Ansari remained legislator for three consecutive terms from 1956-69 from the same segment. His father Mohammed Akhtar Ansari was elected with record votes as the municipal chairman of Mangalore and remained at the post for 18 years. Then as the seat got reserved for women, his mother Sarvari Begum got elected municipal chairperson from 1995-2000.

Following in the footsteps of the family tradition, Kaleem Ansari took to the mainstream politics joining the BJP in 2006 and was made general secretary two years back.

Simultaneously, his wife Rehmani Kaleem too entered the political arena contesting municipal chairman elections in 2007, which she lost by a thin margin.

While talking to The Tribune, Ansari termed his selection the recognition of his commitment to the party as well as aspirations of people of Mangalore who have been electing his family members for decades.

He also said the BJP’s anti-Muslim image was misleading, saying that almost in every state the BJP has sizeable representation of Muslims and even in the Vajpayee government, a Cabinet berth was given to Shahnawaz Hussain.

“Mine candidature is a blow to those who want to create communal unrest as well as sow seeds of doubts among the minority people about the BJP. More communal riots have occurred during the Congress regime, be it at the Centre or state level, said Ansari.

State BJP spokesperson Deepti Rawat said the BJP had been fielding people from the minority community in various municipal and panchayat elections and now with Ansari’s candidature, it had proved the respect with which the BJP looked to them.

Notably in Mangalore, Muslims comprise the largest number of voters about 48,000. While the Scheduled Castes are 11,000 and other Hindus count 30,000 of the total 86,000 voters in the segment.

Though one factor that may go against Kaleem is that rival Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded S Kareem Ansari who is also from same caste. This may indirectly benefit Congress candidate, if it fields a candidate from another caste, as 22,000 Ansari votes may get divided. 

New orders for women voters
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, January 5
Coming out with a new set of orders with regard to the women voters in the forthcoming polls in the five states, including Uttarakhand, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided that two women voters be allowed entry into polling station for entry of one male voter.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Electoral Officers of the five poll-bound states, secretary of the ECI Sumit Mukherjee has stated:“ The commission has now decided, in view of the fact that women electors coming to vote at polling stations have to attend many household chores, two women voters may be allowed entry into the polling station for entry of one male voter.”

The letter states: “The commission has always been emphasising for enhanced participation of women electors on poll day to improve the turnout of women electors. Instructions exist that in places where two polling stations are set up in the same building or compound, there is no objection to allotting one of them for men and the other for women.”

The ECI has also underlined: “Further, where there are a large number of women electors, especially purdahnasheen women, women polling officers should be appointed to carry out the duty of identifying the female voters.”

In case of Uttarakhand, the ECI has put in place a proper programme addressing every concern to ensure a smooth conduct of polls. A total of 57,40,128 voters are expected to cast vote when the polling for 70 seats for the next Assembly in the state takes place on January 30.

Chufal justifies ticket allocation
Says the revolting workers will be won over
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 5
After the revolting BJP ticket aspirants raised questions on the said survey of BJP national president Nitin Gadkari, which was said to have become the basis for ticket distribution, Uttarakhand BJP chief Bishen Singh Chufal said here today that the party had allotted tickets to the candidates not on the basis of whims and fancies of any senior leader but on the basis of the survey conducted by the party in six stages, to evaluate the winning ability of the candidates. “The party has allotted tickets on the basis of that survey, which reflects the feeling of the grass-roots workers of the party,” said Chufal.

According to the state BJP chief, the party has enrolled five candidates in every seat as aspirants for party ticket but only one could be given the ticket. “We have appointed a committee to look into disappointment among the party workers who have been ignored in ticket allocation and our team will talk to these revolting BJP workers and in the next five or six days, they would be brought back into the party fold,” said Chufal.

The state BJP chief said many sitting legislatures and ministers might be dropped in the second list to be released today at New Delhi.

Asked if the party has kept any quota for the women in the allocation of tickets this time, the BJP state chief said the party did not care for quota in place of winning candidates. “We need to win this time and are desperate to get it at any cost. If by adhering to the principles of quota for the women or the youth or any other class in ticket distribution and then lose elections, then it is of no use,” said the BJP state chief.

Saini Samaj flays BJP
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 5
Dr Antriksh Saini, BJP (state) vice-president, has criticised the party for failing to field a candidate from the Saini Samaj from the prestigious Haridwar Assembly seat.

At a press conference, Dr Saini said in Haridwar there were a total of 18,000 voters but the party had refused to field a member from the Saini Samaj and instead fielded Sanjay Gupta.

“Charges of corruption have been levelled against Gupta who had allegedly taken a bribe of Rs 2,50,000,” he said. He also asked the party to make public the report of Manohar Kant Dhyani and Bachi Singh Rawat that had castigated Sanjay Gupta.