Mandi, May 23
Congress members today termed as a pressure tactic GS Bali's reported resignation. They claimed that it was done to browbeat Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh whose wife Pratibha Singh was the front-runner for the Mandi ticket.

The BJP was quick to demand Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur's resignation. It alleged that Virbhadra detractors Bali and Thakur were unhappy in the government.

Congress insiders alleged that Virbhadra detractors were gunning together against him. They claimed that Bali had submitted his resignation to Virbhadra detractor Birender Singh Chaudhary.

They added that Virbhadra loyalist Kewal Singh Pathania had emerged as a second power centre within the Himachal Road Transport Corporation as its Vice-Chairman.

They ridiculed Bali's reported resignation and termed it as a tactic to pressurise the Chief Minister to reduce Pathania's importance in the HRTC and send feelers to the high command over the upcoming General Election.

Party workers pointed out that Chaudhary had wooed voters in Bali's constituency Nagrota Bagwan and Thakur's constituency Darang during the Assembly elections by terming them as chief ministerial candidates.

They claimed that Bali had launched the unemployment 'padyatra' before the elections to gain political mileage without consulting the state Congress leadership.

Requesting anonymity a senior Congress leader alleged that Bali was known for stunts to gain political mileage and he tried yesterday to make his anti-Pathania point with Virbhadra and the party high command.

Bali praised Virbhadra during a public rally at Kansa Chowk on April 21 in which Irrigation and Public Health and Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes, Excise and Taxation Minister Parkash Chaudhary and Thakur were present.

Ministers from Mandi district refused to comment on Bali's reported resignation but said Bali had timed it at a crucial stage ahead of the Mandi byelection on June 23.

The insiders said Bali did not have a significant backing in the Mandi-Kullu-Rampur Bushahr-Kinnaur-Lahaul and Spiti-Bharmour area forming the Mandi parliamentary constituency.

They said the Chief Minister should demand Bali's resignation and allot portfolios to others. Bali's supporters said he was busy and refused to comment further.

Mandi BJP president Jawahar Thakur and Sundernagar chief Rakesh Jamval said Bali's resignation had exposed in five months discontent in the government.

Shimla, May 23
President Pranab Mukherjee was today welcomed on his arrival for a three-day visit to the state. This was his first visit to Himachal Pradesh after becoming the President.

He was presented the guard of honour by the Rajput Regiment based at Jutogh. Governor Urmila Singh, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail received him at the Kalyani helipad in Shimla.

Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma, Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan, Shimla Deputy Mayor Tikendar Panwar and Army Training Command Chief of Staff Lieut-Gen BS Sachar welcomed him as well.

The President will deliver a lecture at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies and preside over the Himachal Pradesh University convocation on May 24. He will inaugurate Maharaja Agrasen University at Kalu Jhanda in Solan district on May 25.

Shimla, May 23
President Pranab Mukherjee will address legislators at the Council Chamber building here tomorrow to mark the golden jubilee of the Assembly.

Himachal Pradesh was constituted on April 15, 1948, by merging 30 erstwhile princely states under a Lieut-Governor with a 36-member Assembly and the first elections were
held in 1952.

The Assembly came into being in 1963 when Himachal Pradesh was a union territory and it was made a full-fledged state on January 25, 1971.

The States Reorganisation Commission had recommended its merger with Punjab in 1956 but leaders ensured that it remained a union territory without an Assembly.

They had to remain content with a Territorial Council with limited powers which was converted into a Legislative Assembly after a long struggle.

To begin with the Assembly had a strength of 43, including two nominated members. After the merger in 1966 into Himachal Pradesh of hill areas of Punjab the strength was raised to 56, including two nominated members.

It was later further increased to 63 with three nominated members. The Assembly was given the present strength of 68 members after Himachal Pradesh was accorded the status of a full-fledged state.

The Council Chamber building which houses the Assembly is located in the vicinity of Kennedy House built by Shimla founder Major Kennedy.

It was raised for the Central Assembly after Shimla was made the summer capital. It took five years to complete the structure which was inaugurated by then Viceroy of India Lord Reading on August 27, 1925.

The Punjab Government was shifted to Shimla after Partition and it held Assembly sittings at this building. It housed the Himachal Pradesh Assembly after the Punjab Assembly was shifted to Chandigarh.

The first session of the Assembly was held at the Council Chamber on October 1, 1963. The furniture was replaced during the silver jubilee in 1988 when the shape of the hall was changed from rectangular to U-shaped.

Another complex for holding the winter session of the Assembly was built at Sidhbari in Dharamsala in 2006. Constituted in December 2012 the current Assembly is the 12th.

Jaiwant Ram was the first Speaker. Des Raj Mahajan was the Speaker from October 4, 1963, to March 18,1967. Kultar Chand Rana was the Speaker from March 28, 1972, to June 29, 1977.

Sarwan Kumar was the Speaker from March 30, 1977, to April 18, 1979. TS Negi was the Speaker from May 8, 1979, to September 14, 1984. Vidya Stokes was the Speaker from March 11, 1985 to March 19, 1990.

Radha Raman Shastri was the Speaker from March 21, 1990, to August 17, 1990. TS Negi was the Speaker from August 20, 1990 to December 14, 1993.

Kaul Singh Thakur was the Speaker from December 15, 1993, to March 12, 1998. Gulab Singh Thakur was the Speaker from March 30, 1998, to March 7, 2003.

Gangu Ram Musafir was the Speaker from March 12, 2003, to January 10, 2008. Tulsi Ram was the Speaker from January 11, 2008, to January 9, 2013. Brij Bihari Lal Butail became the Speaker on January 10 this year.

Shimla, May 23
The probe into the alleged phone tapping issue could finally gain momentum with the Home Department today handing over eight hard discs and four CDs of recorded conversation to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The bureau today requested experts from the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Junga, to guide and assist them in technical matters.

“It is true that today we received the record pertaining to the phone tapping issue, the inquiry of which has been handed over to us,” confirmed AP Singh, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Vigilance and CID.

He said forensic experts had been requested to provide technical assistance so that the probe could begin tomorrow.

With the government drawing flak for going slow on the issue, fingers were being pointed towards the Vigilance Bureau for failing to show any progress. “To avoid unnecessary criticism aimed at us, we had repeatedly sought the entire record without which it was impossible for us to even begin work,” said a senior police officer. Sources said the inquiry into the matter could be over within a month’s time after seeking details from cellular companies. The possibility of the hard discs seized from the computers of the CID and the Vigilance Bureau in December last year being sent to a laboratory outside the state is not being ruled out.

As per the terms of reference of the inquiry entrusted to the Vigilance Bureau, it would try to ascertain if telephone interception had been done in an unauthorised manner and see that in cases where it was done with prior sanction whether it was done beyond the permissible time limit. The other aspect would be to see if the phone tapping was done as per norms and guidelines laid down by the Centre.

The Vigilance Bureau is now likely to sift through voluminous record pertaining to the case which had charged the political climes of the state after the Congress assumed power on December 25, 2012. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had accused the previous regime of having intercepted the telephones of politicians and bureaucrats and had alleged that a bugging device had been planted in his room at the Himachal Bhawan.

The Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP), too, had expressed displeasure over the failure of the Vigilance Bureau to start an investigation.

Shimla, May 23
Unruffled by the reported resignation of Transport Minister GS Bali, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said there was no issue and the political manoeuvre was to get portfolios changed.

“I allotted portfolios due deliberation keeping in view the experience and capabilities of ministers. Bali was assigned the important portfolios of transport and civil supplies as was a senior leader,” he said.

He said neither he nor All-India Congress Committee general secretary and state party affairs in charge Birender Singh Chaudhary had received the resignation.

Chaudhary had stated that he would have accepted the resignation immediately if it had reached him. It had reportedly been sent to Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel but the high command had not informed Chaudhary.

As per constitutional requirement the resignation had to be submitted to the Chief Minister. If Bali was serious he would have sent it to Virbhadra.

The Chief Minister will allow Bali a reasonable time to change his stance. Virbhadra said he had no intention of shuffling portfolios yet.

Replying to a question he said there was no question of meddling in Bali's or any other minister's departments. Virbhadra said Bali had never raised any grievance or issue with him.

The Chief Minister dismissed as misplaced the charge that junior ministers were getting precedence in Kangra and said the charge was far-fetched as he had not toured the district yet.

The timing of Bali’s resignation is not proper as the Mandi byelection is round the corner and such actions which have a destabilising impact on the government are considered as anti-party activity.

The Chief Minister said Bali was doing a good job as a minister and he had no problems with him on this front. Virbhadra hoped that better sense would prevail and Bali would retract.

Bali said Virbhadra was an experienced leader and he would not like to comment on his observation. Bali refused to comment on his resignation and said he met Governor Urmila Singh today.

Bali said he informed her that he would be unable to attend the dinner being hosted by her for the President.

Shimla, May 23
State Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi today and discussed the political scenario in the state with focus on the impending by-election to the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency.

According to party sources, he apprised Sonia about the prospects of the party for the by-election and underlined the need for declaring the party candidate at the earliest. He endorsed the viewpoint of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who met her yesterday, that an early decision on candidate was essential as much time was required to cover the second largest constituency in the country, encompassing inhospitable tribal areas.

The main discussion was on the party's strategy for the 2014 General Election and organisational preparedness for it. The functioning of the government and the party were also discussed and Sonia said the party president and the Chief Minister should work in tandem.

Sukhvinder has convened a meeting of the state election committee on May 25.

Solan, May 23
The working of the Solan police has come under a cloud with shoddy investigations into the murder of Kailesh Thakur who was killed by four inebriated youths with a liquor bottle on his neck on Monday night.

While Dr Rajiv Sehzal, BJP state vice-president and Kasauli MLA, had condemned the delay in getting the medical examination of the four accused done, he said the delay of more than 22 hours was a clear indication that the police was shielding the culprits and it would fail to prove that they were drunk at the time of committing the crime. This would weaken the case, Dr Sehzal added.

Deceased Kailesh Thakur was an office-bearer of the BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha, and he had complained to the police on that night about youths in an inebriated state beating up someone. The police had not only failed to arrive at the spot in time, but Kailesh, who had himself gone to talk to the youths, was attacked by them. He was not only attacked inside the bureau premises, but also fatally injured with liquor bottles by them.

The BJP had held a protest at the Deputy Commissioner Chowk yesterday demanding a fair probe and criticised the role of police officials.

This was followed by more protests by activists of the Student’s Federation of India (SFI) and CPM today.

SFI district president Devichand Rawat and district vice-president Mohit Raj Ajay Bhatti were among those present in the rally.