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BJP adopts wait-and-watch policy
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Bahuguna as Chief Minister
Cong MLAs in Almora support Haridwar MP
BJP in talks with Cong, Independent MLAs, says Chufal
CII session on ‘Uttarakhand’s Next Decade of Development’
Aggarwal is CII U’khand council Chairman
Doon Hospital mess renovation started
Kapil Dev visits IMA
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BJP adopts wait-and-watch policy
Dehradun, March 13 After the BJP had lost the race to the Congress by one seat in the 2012 Assembly elections and was also pipped by the Congress in garnering the support from the three independent MLAs and BSP MLAs, the BJP was told to adopt a wait-and-watch approach. But now with the factional feud staring at the Congress the BJP is keen to fuel the Congress fire. “We are already in talks with the three independent MLAs and three BSP MLAs, who may have second thought about extending the support to the Congress now that there is rebellion in the party. We are also in talks with the disgruntled senior Congress leaders and will not be averse to extending them support,” said BS Chufal, Uttarakhand
BJP chief. Meanwhile, party sources maintained that the BJP was a tad slow in mustering the support of three MLAs and three BSP MLAs, after the BJP central leadership failed to back the move. But now with the season of shifting loyalties beginning in Uttarakhand politics and senior BJP Uttarkhand leaders maintaining contacts with the disgruntled elements in the Congress, the party is not averse to fishing in the troubled waters. “The BJP has already lost the first advantage, but now with the rebellion fire engulfing the Congress, the party would not like to lose the opportunity that has fallen in its lap,” said a senior BJP leader. Besides the party sources claim that now the party’s primary concern will be to select a leader who will be able to sniff an opportunity in case the Congress does not complete its full term. With former Chief Minister BC Khanduri not in the reckoning, courtesy his defeat on the Kotdwar seat, the BJP will be increasingly looking at somebody who will be able to stitch an alliance with the disgruntled elements within the Congress and turn in a politically fluid situation to the party’s advantage. |
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Harish Rawat deserved post this time, opine masses
Nainital, March 13 People are of the opinion that Harish Rawat really deserved the post this time and it was nothing but what has come to be known as the Congress culture of imposing leaders that took its toll. The soft-spoken Congress heavyweight is known throughout the party for his organisational skills. In a do or die battle, he had gone ahead to win the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat, having migrated from Almora. It was after two decades that the Congress managed to win the seat in 2009. Hailing from Mohanari village in Almora, Rawat, a law graduate from Lucknow University, started his political journey from the grassroots. He began by becoming a gram pradhan and then the block pramukh from Bhikiyasain. Thereafter, he joined the Youth Congress and rose to the rank of its national general secretary. He was also the national vice-president of the trade union wing of the Congress-INTUC. He also honed his organising skills while being the Chairman of the Congress Seva Dal. Rawat has been a
member of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) since 1980. He began his stint in Parliament from 1980 as he won from the Almora seat three times in succession. But 1989 was the year that he won from Almora and thereafter, he faced a series of defeats in the Lok Sabha contests from his home constituency. He became the president of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) in 2000 after the formation of the state. He not only revived the party but also led it to victory in the 2002 Assembly poll. He did not contest from any of the Assembly segments. Contrary to the expectations, the Congress chose to make ND Tewari the Chief Minister of the state instead of Rawat. As a compensatory measure, he was sent to the Rajya Sabha the same year. Just when his Rajya Sabha tenure was coming to an end, Rawat started doing the groundwork in Haridwar while saying that he had no intention of contesting a poll before 2010. He eventually contested and won from the seat after his traditional constituency of Almora was declared reserved. He was the strongest contender for a Cabinet berth from the state as he had won from a constituency where the Congress was nowhere in the reckoning. The party had last time won from Haridwar in 1989. Belonging to the hilly terrain of Almora and having won from the Haridwar seat in the Terai belt, Rawat’s elevation to a ministerial berth amalgamated the hill-plain divide. Over the past three years, he worked continuously for the Congress victory in the Assembly poll. Sources say that he was instrumental in bringing two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators in the previous Assembly to the Congress fold and this time also he was consistent in getting the BSP to support the Congress. According to sources, he is now being blamed by his rivals for the Congress failing to reach the simple majority mark as he had a major say in the distribution of tickets. But at the same time, majority of the winning candidates in the party are close to him. |
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Yashpal Arya - docile but popular politician
Nainital, March 13 successive term in office. The Dalit face of the Congress in the state and a four-time legislator, Yashpal Arya, has been amongst the front-runners for the top post of Chief Minister in the ongoing tussle at Dehradun and Delhi. Despite being a low profile leader who is very soft spoken, Arya had proved his mettle in politics when the Congress managed a clean sweep on all the five seats in the Lok Sabha polls of 2009. He has been seen as a major participant and organiser in all the Congress programmes over the last several years, and his appeal transgresses all regions and communities of the state. Arya was the state Assembly Speaker during the regime of former Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tewari from 2002 to 2007. He is seen as a protégé of Tewari and, hence, his relationship with Tewari’s bête-noir Harish Rawat has been ‘uncomfortable.’ He has displayed his popularity with the masses by having won from various constituencies in his political career. He had represented the Khatima constituency in undivided Uttar Pradesh and had then gone on to contest successfully twice from the Mukteshwar seat. He moved base to the Bazpur seat when Mukteswar constituency ceased to exist following fresh delimitation and has once again emerged victorious. His followers say that his promotion as Chief Minister can go a long way in the Congress getting a strong foothold in Dalit constituencies across the country and would definitely help in reducing the
clout of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttarakhand. However, the developments in the recent polls have not been to his advantage. To begin with, he was decimated by Harish Rawat when it had come to distribution of tickets in the state. Secondly, two of his close allies in his hometown of Haldwani, Renu Adhikari and Mahesh Sharma, had gone on to unsuccessfully contest from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and as an Independent successfully. Observers say that his major disadvantage is the caste profile of the state that had originally been envisioned as an upper caste Hindu state. At the same time it is being felt that he is the best candidate to have come up as a consensus for one for the top most posts. |
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Experience in judiciary, politics go in Vijay Bahuguna’s favour
Nainital, March 13 Born on February 28, 1947, in Allahabad, Vijay went on to study law in Allahabad University. His skills as a lawyer and his knowledge of the subject soon saw him being alleviated to the post of a High Court judge both in the Allahabad High Court and later the Mumbai High Court. Old timers say that when the movement for the creation of Uttarakhand gathered momentum in 1994, Vijay had quit as a judge and returned to his home state for a stint in politics. He rejoined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested the 1998 Lok Sabha poll from the Pauri Garhwal seat. He then shifted base to the Tehri constituency and fought the two parliamentary elections in 1999 and 2004 but lost. However, it was the 2007 bypoll that turned his way and he won from the seat. He went on to repeat the performance in 2009 when he was pitted against Jaspal Rana of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). More recently, Rana came into the Congress fold just when the campaign for the Assembly poll was on. He had proved to be a meticulous planner when after having learnt lessons from the previous defeats and confident of being nominated again on the Congress ticket in 2009, he had begun his campaign well in advance. His parliamentary constituency is well spread out covering the districts of Uttarkashi, Tehri and Dehradun. Till the parliamentary poll, one of his major achievements that had been played up in the campaign was his addressing the United Nations General Assembly on November 18, 2008, on the issue of “Equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other related matters”. During the campaign, it was the posters of this address that had dotted the hills of his constituency. The people of his constituency were confident that he would become the Chief Minister of the state one day. It was in the summer of 2009 that Nand Lal, a resident of his constituency, had told this correspondent at Kanatal, “He is a dynamic leader and we feel he will lead the state someday like his father.” In the recently held poll, like his rival Harish Rawat, Bahuguna too had a major say in distribution of tickets at least in his parliamentary constituency. Most of these candidates returned victorious which has proved to be a shot in his arm. Above all, he has been instrumental in garnering the support of two Independents and also the lone Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) legislator in favour of the Congress. An avid lover of golf, billiards and chess, Bahuguna has been a part of several parliamentary committees, besides having been the Vice-Chairman of the Uttarkhand Planning Commission from 2002 to 2007. |
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Bahuguna as Chief Minister
Nainital, March 13 Observers and Congress leaders were expecting an MLA from the region to be chosen as Chief Minister. The best bet, of course, was Harish Rawat. Observers say Harish Rawat had proved his mettle by winning the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat in 2009 after he had to leave his traditional Almora constituency. They add his victory from Haridwar proved that he was one of the few leaders in the state who were acceptable in all regions. Having denied the opportunity to head the government in the state after the Congress won the 2002 Assembly elections under his leadership, Rawat and his supporters were hopeful that this time he would be made Chief Minister. However, the Congress high command’s choice of Tehri Garhwal MP Vijay Bahuguna as Chief Minister has annoyed Rawat’s supporters. Their contention is, “If an MP were to be Chief Minister, Harish Rawat was the undisputed leader.” If the newly elected legislators were to decide on the chief ministerial candidate, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Yashpal Arya, an MLAs from the Bazpur constituency in Kumaon, was a front runner. A four-time legislator, Arya is a former Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly. The Congress under his leadership emerged the single largest party in the elections this time. As he represented Dalits, Arya as Chief Minister would have benefited the party, said the Congress president’s supporters. The observers say even former Cabinet minister in the Narayan Dutt Tiwari government Indira Hariydesh had an outside chance of becoming Chief Minister. Indira’s long political experience and, above all, her having won from Haldwani with the highest margin of 23,000 votes were being seen as her strong points. However, they are sceptical about the decision of the Congress high command to ignore the MLAs from the Kumaon region and again select a Chief Minister from the Garhwal region. The caste factor also played its role in the selection of the chief ministerial candidate and the Brahmin lobby once again managed to outclass the Thakur lobby in the state politics. |
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Cong MLAs in Almora support Haridwar MP
Pithoragarh, March 13 While almost all Congress MLAs in the four districts of the Almora parliamentary constituency are supporting Harish Rawat, the party units are divided over the issue. In Pithoragarh district, the three Congress MLAs are with Harish Rawat, but the party organisation is supporting the decision of the high command regarding the choice of Chief Minister. “As most of the party office-bearers in the district organisation appointed by president of the Uttarakhand Congress Yashpal Arya in the last two years are his loyalists, they are supporting him and the party decision,” said Mahendra Singh Lunthi, president of the Pithoragarh district party unit. Lunthi added that as Arya was supporting the decision of the high command, they also preferred to go with him instead of pursuing personal ambitions. In Almora, however, besides two of the three party MLAs supporting Harish Rawat the local party unit is also with him. “Rawatji is our leader and under his leadership we can take the state forward to achieve development targets set by the party,” said Rajendra Singh Barakoti, Almora district Congress president. The lone Congress MLA from Champawat, Hemesh Kharkwal, is supporting Harish Rawat, while the local party unit is supporting Yashpal Arya. “We have celebrated the appointment of Vijay Bahuguna as the seventh Chief Minister of the state by the party high command,” said Mohan Ram Arya, president of Champawat district Congress unit. He added that Hemesh Kharkwal was brought into the party by veteran leader ND Tiwari, but after the latter became weak physically and politically, Kharkwal switched over to the Harish Rawat group. The lone Congress MLA from Kapkot in Bageswar district, Lalit Farswan, is also a Harish Rawat supporter as he got the party ticket on the Haridwar MP’s insistence. “Besides the Kapkot MLA, the local party unit is also supporting Harish Rawat,” said Ummed Singh Majhila,” Bageswar district Congress president. |
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BJP in talks with Cong, Independent MLAs, says Chufal
Pithoragarh, March 13 Chufal said only the BJP could give a stable government and there was no infighting in the party for chief ministership. “Even if the Congress forms the government in the state, there will be dissension on the allocation of ministerial berths and departments,” he claimed. The BJP chief said they were in touch with BSP legislators and some Independents in case “the party gets a chance to form the government”. “We are also in touch of some Congress legislators who have assured us of support in the formation of the government from outside,” said Chufal. Asked if he could name the Independent and Congress MLAs who were in touch with the BJP leadership, Chufal said as talks were on, he could not name them. “The people of the state should realise that only the BJP was capable of giving a stable government as factionalism in the Congress was bound to intensify,” said Chufal. |
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CII session on ‘Uttarakhand’s Next Decade of Development’
Dehradun , March 13 Elaborating on the various infrastructure initiatives of the government, Jain said that the power deficit would be addressed by 2016 through capacity addition and also refurbishing of existing generation capacity. Improved connectivity and an enabling policy environment are other key priorities, he added. Jain also emphasised on the importance of Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the role of the industry. Jain presented the CII Uttarakhand Annual Green Award to Himalayan Action Research Centre (HARC) for it’s outstanding work in the field of promoting agriculture and sustainable livelihoods in the hills of Uttarakhand. Mahendra Singh Kunwar, chief functionary, HARC, accepted the award. While thanking the CII for the award, Kunwar said logistics was a key challenge that needed to be addressed for hill development. Addressing the session, Rakesh Sharma, Principal Secretary, Industrial Development, emphasised on the need for improving the industrial infrastructure further, especially in the hills. Giving the example of China, Sharma highlighted the need for connectivity to the remotest parts of the state for achieving high economic growth rates. Sharma also stressed on the need for focusing on skill infrastructure, specially the ITIs and polytechnics. He urged the industry to come forward and take a lead in this area. Moderating the session, Dr R S Tolia, former Chief Secretary, former CIC, Uttarakhand, said that high levels of poverty, specially in the hills, is a prime concern. This, he said, can be addressed only through agri-based interventions. He strongly recommended strengthening of the planning institutions and the state taking advantage of the priorities set by the next (12th) Five Year plan. Earlier, Vijay K Thadani, Chairman, CII, Northern Region, and CEO, NIIT, emphasised on the importance of bringing in the important element of skill development into the education framework. This, he said, would help enhance the employability of the local youth. Dr S. Farooq, Chairman, CII, Uttarakhand State Council, Uttarakhand, said that state had witnessed impressive economic growth. It had also made good progress on the social development front, having achieved the greatest increase in the human development index between 1999 and 2008 amongst all states. However, many challenges remain, including challenge of hill development, poverty, sustaining the growth momentum, livelihood generation etc. The session aims to deliberate as to what should be the priorities of the state for the next 10 years, he added. The session was well attended by over 100 delegates from industry, institutions, government, academia, NGOs and media. Rakesh Aggarwal, Vice-Chairman, CII, Uttarakhand, proposed the vote of thanks. |
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Aggarwal is CII U’khand council Chairman
Dehradun, March 13 Aggarwal is a BTech and an MBA from Delhi University. He is the Director of Regency Aquaelectro & Motelresorts Ltd, engaged in Hydro Power Generation. He is also the Managing Director of Datt Infrastructure and Services Ltd, a Company engaged in developing infrastructure & logistic facilities for industries, Director of Mayur Auto Pvt Ltd, Bajaj Moterbikes dealership and also the Director of Bee-am Industries Pvt Ltd, providing C&F inventory management solutions to Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Jain is an MBA and a Promoter Director of AKUMS Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He is a self-made industrialist with nearly 27 years of experience in the field of pharmaceuticals trading, manufacturing and project management. He is known for his skills related to business turnarounds and meticulous planning. He is actively associated with many trade and commercial organisations. He has been the joint secretary of the Rajasthan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and vice-president of the Bhiwadi Manufacturers Association. He is presently the Chairman of Association of Pharmaceutical Manufactures, Uttarakhand, and general secretary of association of the Devbhumi Pharma Industries. He is a recipient of various prestigious awards like National Award 2010 for Outstanding Efforts in Entrepreneurship by Govt of India, Entrepreneurship award by Federation of Pharma Entrepreneurs (FOPE), Arch of Excellence Award by the All-India Achievers Conference and IPER’s Outstanding Performance Award. |
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Doon Hospital mess renovation started
Dehradun, March 13 A poor budgetary allocation was one of the reasons for the hospital authorities to turn their attention away from the mess where cracked walls, uneven flooring, broken windows and doors greeted the visitors. “The government has recently sanctioned some amount for carrying out construction work at the hospital. We have begun renovation at the hospital mess, where the tiles are being laid, doors and windows would be erected and a separate toilet facility would be set up for the workers of the mess. Besides, a ramp has always been constructed for ferrying food through trolleys,” said Dr KC Pant, senior physician. But sources claim that the efforts of the hospital management are not enough, as the mess is without proper refrigeration facilities and separate gas supply lines. “The size of the mess is too small to cater to the requirement of a at least 215 patients every day. It should have separate storage facility,” said a senior doctor. Along with renovating the hospital mess, the management is also aiming to start the trolley service for carrying food. |
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Kapil Dev visits IMA
Dehradun, March 13 He witnessed the various areas of GCs’ training and appreciated their enthusiasm and high morale. He said that it was an eye-opening experience for him to have glimpses of the training which changes a man into a gentleman.
— TNS |
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Dehradun, March 13
