Sirsa, February 10
Bringing together all factions of the Congress in the state for the upcoming general election will be the first priority for newly appointed state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar.

Asked how he would strike a balance between Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his rival faction headed by former Union minister Sejla and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh, Tanwar said he would take all colleagues along and take the benefit senior leaders’ experience for the challenge ahead.

Tanwar was with Rahul Gandhi in Odisha when Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced his appointment today. He told The Tribune over telephone that he had no doubt that the Congress would win all 10 seats as the state government had done a lot for the people in the last nine-and-a-half years.

Tanwar claimed that there was no real opposition in Haryana. “Our party will win parliamentary and Assembly elections which will follow,” he said. Asked how he felt after his appointment, he said he had always taken as a new challenge the responsibility given.

“I have been getting blessings of the top leadership of the Congress from the days I became secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI). I am grateful to Soniaji and Rahulji, who always trusted me even though I come from a humble background and have no political background,” Tanwar said.

He added that he would endeavour to live up to the expectations of the Congress leadership. Asked if he would contest from Sirsa, he said he had been maintaining even before his present appointment that it was not his will that mattered as he had always obeyed the command of the party leadership.

Starting his political career with the NSUI, Tanwar became its national secretary in 1999 and president in 2003. He was appointed national president of the Youth Congress in 2005. He contested his first parliamentary poll from Sirsa in May 2009 and won.

Chandigarh, February 10
After coming close to being declared president of the Haryana Congress on at least two occasions in the last few months, Sirsa Member of Parliament Ashok Tanwar has, finally, been given the baton to lead the state’s dissent-riven unit into the election season.

His appointment, being seen as an attempt of the party high command to infuse young blood into the state unit, comes just ahead of the general election in a year when Haryana, too, goes to the polls.

A close aide of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former chief of the Youth Congress, 39-year-old Tanwar replaces 74-year-old Phool Chand Mullana, marking a generational shift in the state unit, where egos of party heavyweights are constantly rubbing each other the wrong way.

With Rahul Gandhi’s stamp all over the appointment, neither Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s camp or the “dissident” faction led by Rajya Sabha members Selja and Birender Singh can claim credit for the appointment, that has been made in spite of them, if Congress leaders are to be believed. Tanwar comes with the “Rahul camp” tag.

Party sources said while Hooda was pitching for Mullana’s continuation and had projected former Rajya Sabha member Ram Prakash and Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal as potential successors if the former was not acceptable, Selja had staked claim to the post and the camp had forwarded Suresh Gupta’s name for the post.

While Mullana, Bhukkal and Selja met the crucial requirement of being Dalit leaders, no recommendation cut ice for the reason that the party high command not only wanted a young face, but was keen on a balancing act as well in which neither group could feel victorious.

The sources said while Tanwar’s name has been doing the rounds for a few months, the party wanted all leaders on board before making the announcement. Both camps had reservations about Tanwar donning the mantle. Selja was not keen as she was the Dalit face of the party from Haryana and at the Centre.

Hooda was not enthusiastic as Tanwar hails from Chimni village in Jhajjar district, seen as the Chief Minister’s stronghold.

The sources said Tanwar as state party president would mean the rise of another young leader in the area where Rohtak Member of Parliament Deepender Singh Hooda had complete control, till now.

Chandigarh, February 10
The Lokayukta today reserved order on the government’s application seeking review of its order recommending the registration of a case against Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Ram Kishan Fauji in the alleged cash-for-CLU licence scandal.

Sources said NS Sekhawat, counsel for the INLD, which had released the CD showing Fauji demanding a bribe of Rs 5 crore for a CLU licence for a piece of land along the National Highway 8 in Gurgaon, demanded the rejection of state government's application as there was no provision for review of the Lokayukta's orders under the Haryana Lokayukta Act,2002.

On January 30, the Haryana government had referred back the Lokayukta's recent report recommending a criminal case against Fauji in the cash-for-CLU scam. While urging the Lokayukta to re-examine the recommendations, the state government had claimed that there was a variation in the findings and observations made by the Lokayukta in his report.

On September 6 last year, the INLD had released a video clip of Fauji allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 5 crore for getting the CLU done. Fauji had dubbed the video as "doctored" and said it was an attempt by the INLD to malign his image. The Haryana Government had referred the matter to the Lokayukta in September last year.

Karnal, February 10
Leaving Akhil Chauhan's body in the mortuary, his family and members of his community protested here today, demanding the arrest of the accused in the case of suicide by the youth. They also demanded a CBI inquiry into the case.

Irate over police inaction, they continued their dharna in front of the mortuary of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College Hospital for the second day and took out a protest march in the city.

They raised slogans against the police and handed over a copy of the deceased's suicide note to Deputy Commissioner Balraj Singh.

The protesters threatened that they would not perform the last rites and would continue their protest till the accused were arrested.

Members of the community assembled in the mortuary this morning and decided to take out a protest march. The protesters blocked the road for some times and reached the Mini-Secretariat.

Deputy Commissioner Balraj Singh and Superintendent of Police Abhishek Garg assured them, but they did not relent. They went back and decided to continue their dharna till their demand was met.

Naresh Kumar Chaudhary, maternal uncle of the deceased, alleged that Akhil took the extreme step due to police harassment at the behest of the family of the girl he had married.

"The police are not taking action in the case as three police officials are involved," he alleged. The police had booked nine persons, including three police officials, but no arrest had been made so far.

Aam Aadmi Party activists sat on a dharna in front of the Inspector-General's office, demanding arrest of the accused and a first information report against the Indian Police Service officer mentioned in the suicide note.

"The police are trying their best to arrest the accused. Teams have been constituted for arresting the accused," said the Superintendent of Police.

Rewari, February 10
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest all 10 Lok Sabha and 90 Vidhan Sabha seats in Haryana in the coming elections.

Yogendra Yadav, a prominent member of the national executive committee of AAP, made this announcement here yesterday, while addressing a press conference.

Yadav said transparent governance immune from corruption, amelioration of the peasantry and the villages, creation of public awareness against consumption of liquor and drugs, affording equal opportunities to various sections of the society in the domain of education and provision of better health facilities would constitute the party’s five-point poll plank.

Regarding party’s countrywide membership drive launched from January 10 to 26, he said the party enrolled nearly 98 lakh primary members, while it enlisted eight lakh members in Haryana alone. AAP would take out a ‘Jhadoo Yatra ‘ (broom march) throughout the country from February 15 to 25, he said.

He asserted that the party would focus on elimination of ‘Vanshvad and Parivarvad’, which was rapidly spreading its tentacles in state politics.

Yadav, who was late by over two hours, also addressed a public meeting in Rao Tula Ram Park here.

He targeted both Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and said the Congress was synonymous to corruption, where numerous scams had tumbled out of its cupboard, whereas Modi provided land at throwaway prices to industrialists for establishing their units in Gujarat.

He said it would be unfortunate for the country if the elections were fought on “Rahul Vs Modi” plank.

Sonepat, February 10
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ambawata) will field its representatives as panchayati candidates from all 10 parliamentary constituencies in Haryana.

State Union chief Shamsher Singh Dahiya announced this while talking to the media here today.

Dahiya said an 11-member committee, headed by him, had been constituted for selection of the candidates for these seats. He said the names of the candidates had been forwarded to the Union’s national committee for final nod.

Bajwa said the Union had decided to field its candidates in 16 states during the Lok Sabha elections. — OC

Kurukshetra, February 10
Services in public sector banks were paralysed today as bank employees went on a two-day strike, demanding an immediate wage revision settlement and protesting against banking reforms.

Hawa Singh Ranga, assistant general secretary, SBI Staff Association, said, “The purpose is to protect our rights. We took this route as the Indian Banks Association did not come up with an improved wage offer.”

The wage revision of bank employees was due from November 2012 and the asociation offered us an increment of 10 per cent over wage expense, which was low and unacceptable to unions, he said.

Banking operations, including cash transactions, cheque clearances and foreign exchange dealings, were affected, causing inconvenience to customers. The Sarv Karamchari Sangh Haryana extended support.

Ambala: All nationalised banks in the district remained closed following the strike call of the All-India Bank Employee Federation. Around 100 bank branches took part in the strike.

Bank employees led by union leaders RK Gulati and VK Verma addressed a meeting in front of Allahabad Bank. They said the strike would be continued tomorrow.

Businessmen had to face difficulty following the bank strike. Most automated teller machines Ambala City ran out of cash.

Kaithal , February 10
The country is facing a shortage of about 7 lakh doctors and this gap can be bridged by opening new medical colleges. As the government alone could not accomplish this task, the private sector is being motivated to set up medical colleges.

This was stated by Health Minister Rao Narinder Singh after inaugurating a 400-bed hospital on the Haryana Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS) campus near the Haryana College of Technology and Management here yesterday. With this hospital becoming functional, the way has been cleared for a medical college which will start functioning after a nod from the MCI. — OC

Sirsa, February 10
The All India Students’ Federation (AISF) has threatened to gherao Parliament tomorrow for banning student bodies’ elections in Haryana. Members said they would show black flags to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on his visit to Dabwali on February 16.

Roshan Suchan, national secretary of the AISF, said hundreds of students would participate in the protest.

“Faulty policies of the government have made education a mere commodity. Nearly 80 per cent of the population is away from higher education and over 30 lakh youths in the state are unemployed,” he alleged.

The AISF leader alleged that due to its privatisation, education had become a costly affair and it had become difficult for common people to have an access to it.

Sonepat, February 10
Sameer Pal Srow, DC, today suspended municipal council engineer Bharat Bhushan following complaints of undue delay in construction of a road near Subhash Chowk.

Work had come to a standstill as electricity poles on the road could not be shifted due to non-payment of shifting charges by the municipal council to the power Discom. — TNS

Kaithal, February 10
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has approved the four-laning of the 96-km Kaithal -Ambala stretch on the NH-65 under the Highway Development Programme, said Randeep Singh Surjewala, PWD and Industries Minister, here today. The NHAI has invited proposals for the ~724-crore project till March 24.

Four bypasses in Kaithal, Pehowa, Ismalabad and Ambala and several railway over bridges and railway under bridges will be constructed to regulate traffic. — OC

Jind, February 10
The Haryana Power Engineers Association has strongly condemned the new promotion policy announced by the distribution companies (Discoms) recently.

Association members said Haryana Vidhyut Nigam had revised the promotion policy in respect of promotion of the Executive Engineer to Superintending Engineer and from Superintending Engineer to Chief Engineer on the basis of selection.

According to the new seniority-cum-merit policy, 50% weightage will be given to the confidential report of the last seven years, 40% for personnel interview, to be conducted by a three-member committee, and 10 per cent for acquiring additional qualification during service period. The new policy mandates that the number of candidates to be called for the interview will be three times the number of vacancies.

In a letter to the Managing Director of the power utility, the association has stated that power engineers of all utilities are disturbed over the changes made in the promotion policy, which gives arbitrary power to the management and is likely to be misused by vested interests.

“The existing promotion policy is based on a time-tested method of seniority, but the management has revised it to seniority-cum-merit, which is nowhere existent in any of the state government departments,” they said.

VK Gupta, secretary finance, Northern India Power Engineers Federation, said, “40% interview marks can push eligible to back as corrupt will try to use their connections to garner maximum numbers in the interview.” — TNS

Chandigarh, February 10
The state gGovernment has exempted three-wheeler owners from paying penalty on outstanding road tax till February 28.

A spokesperson for the Transport Department said the exemption would be provided till February 28 and the owners would have to pay full pending tax with regard to three-wheelers for availing the benefit. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 10
The Haryana government’s decision to include Jats and four other castes in specially backward classes (SBC) for reservation in government jobs today came under the Punjab and Haryana High Court scanner.

Taking up a petition alleging that the reservation was in contravention of the constitutional provisions, the High Court today issued notice of motion to the state and other respondents for March 25.

The notice by the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul came on a petition filed by Murari Lal Gupta of Bhiwani. Challenging the January 24 decision, the petitioner contended that 10 per cent reservation in jobs under government was given to Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnoi, Ror and Tyagi castes. This reservation under SBC was provided in addition to the already notified 27 per cent reservation for backward classes. It was, as such, in excess of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.

He further submitted that on September 23, 2013, the state government issued another notification providing reservation to economically backward persons belonging to the general category in government jobs and admissions to government and aided educational institutions. The reservation was also provided in addition to the already notified 27 per cent reservation.

Bhiwani, February 10
A man has been sentenced to seven-year jail for raping a woman on the pretext of providing her and her brother a job in the Railways in Nathuwas village of the district today.

Additional district and session judge Abdul Mazid also fined him Rs 7,000.

Joginder Singh, a resident of Mitathal village, had lured her to accompany him to Alwar in March 2011 and they stayed there for about five months. Later, he took her to Hisar where he raped her after administering her sedatives. She, however, reported the incident to the police on July 11, 2012. The police booked the accused.

Yamunanagar, February 10
Five persons were sentenced for life today for murdering a resident of Hareva village in Yamunanagar district on January 19, 2010, while four others were acquitted for want of evidence.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 31,000 on each accused.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajneesh Bansal gave life imprisonment to Pawan Rathi of Rajoolgarh village in Sonepat, Ravinder of Panchi village in Sonepat, Gaurav Rana of Bilaspur town in Yamunanagar, Dinesh of Sultanpuri in New Delhi and Manish Kumar of Bodbal Majri in Panipat for killing Karamvir Singh.

The judge acquitted four persons-Pervez Kumar, Harpreet Singh, Pardeep Sharma and Sonu Dagar for want of evidence.