Sujanpur, April 19
Anita Rana, Congress candidate for the Sujanpur Assembly byelection, whose ticket was announced yesterday, today filed her nomination papers in the presence of senior Congress leaders.

Prominent among those who were present included Chief Parliamnatray Secretary Inder Dutt Lakhanpal and former MLAs Anita Verma, Urmil Thakur, Ranjit Singh Verma and Manjit Dogra. Vikramaditya Singh, state Youth Congress president and son of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, was also present on the occasion.

"I have been given an opportunity to contest the election on the Congress ticket with the blessings of CM Virbhadra Singh and I assure that I will serve the people of the constituency the way my husband did in the past," she said, making her debut political speech.

Her husband Rajinder Rana asked the people to vote for him on the basis of his performance during the past 16 months. "I have placed my report card before you all so it is up to you to decide whether you want a person who serves and lives with you or the one who is visible only in Mumbai and Dubai and in the company of film personalities and cricketers," he said.

He listed his achievements, including the opening of an SDM office at Sujanpur, foundation stone of mini Secretariat, drinking water schemes and opening of several health and educational institutions.

Vikramaditya also urged the people to vote for the Congress which had in the past ensured overall development of Sujanpur and would continue to do so in the future. "The electorate of Himachal was well aware and intelligent and cannot be fooled by Narendra Modi's claims as they were aware that the Congress was seeking votes only on the name of development and not personal attacks and mudslinging by the BJP," he remarked.

Shimla, April 19
As many as 14 candidates filed nomination papers on the last day here today, raising the total number of nominations to 52.

For the first time six women candidates, including Pratibha Singh, Congress candidate from Mandi, Kamal Kanta Batra, AAP candidate from Hamirpur, have entered the fray.

Parvesh Kumari (Samajwadi Party), Arti Soni (Shiv Sena) and Kanta Devi (Independent) filed their nomination from the Kangra parliamentary constituency, while five candidates — Subhash Mohan Sanehi, Puni Chand and Bhaag Chand Rana (all Independents), Shailender Gupta (AAP) and Ajay Rana (BJP) — filed their nominations from the Mandi parliamentary constituency.

Two candidates filed nominations for the Lok Sabha elections from the Shimla parliamentary constituency today.

Shoorvir Singh filed his nominations (Samajwadi Party) and Virender Kumar Kashyap (Independent) filed nomination papers from the Shimla parliamentary constituency, while four candidates, Parmod (BSP), Urmil Sharma (Samajwadi Party), Rajinder Singh Rana and Dev Raj (Independents), filed their nominations from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.

All four sitting Lok Sabha members, Virender Kashyap, Anurag Thakur, Dr Rajan Sushant and Pratibha Singh, and former Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar have already filed their nominations.

Namesake of the BJP candidate from Shimla, Virender Kashyap, has entered the fray from Shimla as an Independent, while the namesake of Congress candidate from Hamirpur, Rajinder Singh Rana, has filed nominations as an Independent from the same constituency.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on April 21 while the last date of withdrawal is April 23.

Shimla, April 19
BJP leaders, who have been accusing Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and other Congress leaders of indulging in a vilification campaign against Anurag Thakur, party candidate from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, today launched a personal attack on Congress candidate Rajinder Singh Rana.

They accused the Chief Minister of not initiating any inquiry into the charges levelled against Rana by the Congress during the past 17 months.

“The Congress has no candidate to challenge Anurag Thakur in Hamirpur and the party has been taking candidates on loan since 2009 elections. This time also, the Congress has fielded BJP rebel and former Independent MLA Rajinder Rana, who has been a bitter critic of the Chief Minister for the past eight years,” said Parveen Sharma, spokesperson, BJP.

Reminding Virbhadra Singh that Rajinder Rana is the same person who had to quit as a media adviser following some unsavoury controversy during the BJP regime, Sharma said Rana’s name figured in the Congress chargesheet, but the Chief Minister failed to take any action against him.

Anurag had been accusing the CM, Rana and other leaders of levelling false charges against him. He also served a legal notice and made a complaint to the Election Commission, but now his own party leaders have launched a slander campaign.

The Chief Minister had been raking up the issue of alleged irregularities in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) headed by Anurag Thakur, but now both major parties are trading personal charges and engaged in a bitter war of words.

Rana, once a staunch loyalist of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, had parted ways when he was denied the BJP ticket from the Sujanpur Assembly constituency in 2012 and contested as an Independent and won by a huge margin of more than 14,000 votes.

His victory was spectacular as he defeated both BJP and the Congress candidates, Urmil Thakur and Anita Verma, respectively.

Ironically, both of them are now supporting Rana from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency and his wife Anita Rana from the Sujanpur Assembly constituency where byelection are taking place due to Rana's resignation.

On the other hand, Narinder Thakur, son of BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand, who opposed Anurag Thakur in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll and Dhumal in the Assembly polls in 2012 is back in the BJP and backed by both Dhumal and his son. 

Dharamsala, April 19
Kewal Singh Pathania, vice-chairman, Forest Corporation, continues to campaign in the Shahpur Assembly constituency, despite a threat by Vijai Singh Mankotia.

Mankotia, while addressing a press conference a few days ago, had demanded that Kewal Singh Pathania should be kept away from the Shahpur Assembly constituency till the elections. He had claimed that he and his supporters would campaign in the Shahpur Assembly constituency only if Kewal Singh Pathania was kept away from the area. Mankotia and his supporters had also passed a resolution in this regard.

However, despite the threat, Pathania continues to campaign in the Shahpur area. He was accompanied by Minister for Forests Thakur Singh Bharmouri yesterday.

Pathania had claimed that he was a Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) delegate from the area. "It was the highest post in the Assembly constituency in the Congress organisational hierarchy," he said.

"Moreover, I am just working for party candidate Chander Kumar and nobody should have any objection to it," he added.

The supporters of Kewal Singh Pathania, including the Block Congress president, have opposed the demand made by Vijai Singh Mankotia.

Meanwhile, Mankotia is a press statement issued here said, "The Chief Minister also accorded me special status during the filing of nomination papers of Chander Kumar, Congress candidate from the Kangra parliamentary constituency, on March 17. Some leaders could not digest it and were hatching a conspiracy against me," he alleged.

He alleged a section of the press under a political conspiracy published a news item that slogans were raised against him in the political rally of the Chief Minister on March 17.

Mankotia was referring to a news item published in a section of newspapers that Pathania’s supporters had raised slogans against Vijai Singh Mankotia in the CM’s rally.

A pitched battle between Vijai Singh Mankotia and Kewal Singh Pathania has been going on since the Chief Minister visited the former's residence at Tiara in Kangra. Both leaders were battling for a place close to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and a political future in the Shahpur Assembly constituency.

Sujanpur (Hamirpur), April 19
It was a rare moment that the three candidates who fought the 2012 Assembly elections against each other from Sujanpur shared the dais as they vowed to work unitedly to ensure the victory of Congress candidate Anita Rana in the ensuing Assembly bypoll.

True to the saying that in politics there are no permanent friends or foes, the three political opponents -- former Congress minister Anita Verma, former Chief Parliamentary Secretary in the Dhumal regime Urmil Thakur and Rajinder Rana, who resigned as an Independent MLA from Sujanpur -- put up a united show on the occasion of the filing of nomination papers by Anita Rana, wife of Rajinder Rana.

The discomfort for Anita Verma, who till the last moment was a contender for the party ticket, and Urmil Thakur was more than evident. “It is strange that Urmil and myself, who had contested against each other, will now walk hand in hand to ensure the victory of the Congress candidate,” admitted Verma, as she addressed a public meeting at Sujanpur.

The coming together of the three political rivals did send a strong signal though it remains to be seen how honestly Verma and Urmil will work for ensuring Anita Rana’s victory. Anita Rana, a reluctant entrant to politics, has been forced to contest due to the holding of the simultaneous parliamentary and Assembly elections. “I did not wish to leave the BJP, but the manner in which I was sidelined and humiliated, I felt this was God’s will that I join the Congress and CM Virbhadra Singh has been very gracious in accepting me,” said Urmil, who has already been campaigning with Anita in the constituency for the past five days.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is campaigning in Rohru, made up for his absence by ensuring the presence of his son and state Congress president Vikramaditya Singh on the occasion. It is owing to Virbhadra’s hard stance that Rana managed to get ticket for his wife, considering the stiff opposition from a section of the partymen.

Exuding confidence of victory both for himself and his wife, Rana said it was on people’s demand that he had to field his wife. “I decided to quit on my own to contest the Lok Sabha poll, but she is people’s choice with whom we are emotionally bonded for the last 14 years,” he said.

Rana had won by an impressive margin of over 14,000 votes, defeating Verma (Congress) and Urmil (BJP) in the last Assembly polls. The strange political developments have brought both Rana and Urmil, staunch BJP loyalists into the Congress fold.

Strangely, the situation in the BJP is no different as the party has fielded Narinder Thakur, son of former BJP minister Jagdev Chand Thakur who had contested the last Lok Sabha poll from Hamirpur in 2009 on the Congress ticket. He returned to his parent party after a brief stint in the Congress and managed to get the Assembly ticket.

Shimla, April 19
The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today accused the Congress of indulging in mudslinging and raising frivolous issues to divert the attention of people from its dismal performance during the past 17 months.

"The state government had failed to fulfil its promises made during the Assembly poll in 2012 and has no achievement to count," said state Satpal Satti, state BJP chief.

He said during the 2012 Assembly poll, the Congress had promised Rs 1,000 as an unemployment allowance to youth who had passed Class XII examination and whose family income was less than Rs 2 lakh per annum and Rs 1,500 to graduates, but nothing has been done so far in the past 17 months.

The Congress had promised regularisation of daily wagers after five years of service, raising social security pension to Rs 600 per month, enhancing daily wages to Rs 200 and distribution of 20,000 laptops free of cost to meritorious students, but all in vain, he said.

Ridiculing the statements of Congress leaders that there was no “Modi wave”, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the wave had become stronger and more visible with each passing day and the NDA would not only breach the magic figure of 272, but win more than 300 seats. 

Kasauli, April 19
The second day of the three-day event, Kasauli Rhythm and Blues Festival, at Bekunth Resorts, organised by the Genesis Foundation in association with Rolling Stones magazine, began with a series of events which continued late into the night.

While rumours about a man falling off a staircase several floors high spread like wildfire, all were informed that he was drunk and had been rushed to the military hospital. “The man who fell off was from Ludhiana,” said Prema Sagar, co-founder trustee, Genesis Foundation. The audience was quick to recover from the incident when the Whirling Kalapas took to the stage.

With Uday Benegal on vocals, guitar and percussion, Sankarshan Kini on guitar, mandolin, violin, percussion and vocals and Ashwin Andrew on percussion, guitar, bass, keyboards, Whirling Kalapas is a rich addition to India's current Indie explosion, especially for the audience looking beyond the volume-driven sounds of rock and electronic acts populating the scene.

“Our songs have a very easy take on life and the idea is to keep the sound mellow and then make heavy structures of sounds,” said Uday Benegal, also the vocalist of Indus creed.

Performing for the first time in Kasauli, the trio is about to release their debut self-titled EP, which Uday and Shanks recorded along with guitar player Mahesh.

As the evening progressed, Adi and Suhail's musical aesthetic rooted in simple yet powerful songwriting formed a dynamic chemistry that made for experimental and ever evolving sonic footprint. The band performed their songs “Qalandar”, “Laage Re” and “Zindagi”.

“We are all set to release their record Culture Code Landscape in the coming months,” says the duo. Adi and Suhail have been playing and writing music together for over a decade now and have been churning out an interesting amalgamation of Hindustani, Sufi and Jazz music.

Caralisa, who has sung everything from Christmas records to mainstream Bollywood films, including “Rock On”, “Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna”, “Karthik Calling Karthik”, “Anjaana Anjani” etc performed at the festival too with her band, Caralisa Monterio.

“I have lent my voice to over 3,000 ads for several well-known brands. Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy then told me that they had a song for me in "Rock On", so I took it on."

Talking about her band, Carlisa shares that this is the first time that they are performing at the Kasauli Rhythm and Blues Festival and that the like the vibe of the place. “I’ll be singing my song, We Know Why, this time,” she says.

Performing at the venue were also the Bangalore-based band Lagori, which combines Indian classical melodies and inflections with rock music, resulting in an interesting mix that is high on energy, while being catchy and soulful at the same time. The high point of the evening came along when Soulmate, a Shillong-based band, performed at the venue. Comprising Rudy Wallang and Tipriti Kharbangar, the band has recorded three albums: “Shillong”, “Moving On” and “Ten Stories Up”. Rudy Wallang, a guitar player, singer, songwriter leads this tight-knit unit.

Keylong (Mandi), April 19
The intermittent snowfall in Lahaul and Spiti Assembly segment, falling under the Mandi parliamentary constituency, has kept candidates and their supporters away from campaigning.

Keeping in view the continuous snowfall in the district, the administration has sought permission from the state Electoral Officer to allow airlifting of electronic voting machines (EVMs) to polling station where road links are still snapped.

The mainline link with the district from Manali is still blocked with a number of glaciers and the Rohtang Pass is blocked with about 25 ft snow.

The intermittent snowfall is also hampering the efforts of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) to open the Rohtang Pass.

Sources from Keylong said, “Several areas in the district are experiencing snowfall and are covered with two ft snow. Many residents who migrated to Kullu and Manali are waiting to return to the district.”

Though Congress candidate Pratibha Singh and BJP candidate have covered many Assembly segments, they have not campaigned in Lahaul and Spiti.

Ravi Thakur, Congress MLA, and former BJP MLA Ram Lal Markanda are seeking votes for the candidates of Congress and the BJP, respectively, and walking on foot to reach the villages.

Even star campaigners Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, who generally use helicopters for campaigning, have not campaigned in the district.

The polling in Lahaul and Spiti will take place on May 7, along with other parts of the constituency, and has many polling stations in snow-bound and difficult areas.

Markanda, who is campaigning in the Spiti valley said, “Continuous snowfall in the area is making it difficult to campaign as our supporters and campaign matter is still stuck up at Kullu and we are making effort to airlift the material from there.”

Congress MLA Ravi Thakur said, “Many residents have already come back and the road for light vehicles is likely to open soon.”

Lahaul and Spiti DC Beer Singh Thakur said, “We have sought permission to airlift the EVMs where road connectivity is snapped. Road links in three valleys of Sissu, Darcha and Udaipur have been opened and the BRO is making efforts to open the Rohtang Pass.” 

Palampur, April 19
Palampur and its adjoining areas witnessed heavy rain and hailstorm, accompanied by high-velocity wind, last night causing widespread damage to fruit, tea and other crops.

While the Dhauladhar ranges and high-altitude areas of Chhota and Bhangal area experienced heavy snow, local residents were forced to wear woollens again.

The hailstorm, thunder, lightning and winds continued for more than two hours in most parts of Palampur. Power supply, telecommunication system and road transport was also affected. Upper areas of Palampur like Lohana, Bundla, Sughar and Chandpur were worst hit where most of the tea gardens were located.

Tea growers said plucking of green tea leaves was in progress these days, but heavy rain and hail storm had damaged the green leaves. They were expecting a bumper crop and maximum return from the leaves plucked in March and April, but unseasonal rains, cold climatic conditions and hail storm had perished their hopes.

A spokesman for the HP Agriculture University said cold conditions, unusual snow, hailstorm and heavy rain had delayed the harvesting of wheat by a month.

He said heavy rain last night had caused widespread damage to wheat crop in lower area of the Kangra valley like Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Dehara Gopipur, Nurpur and lower belt of Palampur. 

Doda, April 19
Seven persons were killed and five injured critically in a road accident on the Doda-Kishtwar highway near the Dharabshalah area of Kishtwar district today evening.

Reports said a vehicle which was on its way to Kishtwar rolled down into the Chenab after being hit by a boulder.

An eyewitness, Ishtiq Wani, said the incident took place around 5.15 pm and the vehicle rolled down 300 foot into the Chenab. He said five passengers were killed instantly while two died in different hospitals.

After the incident, locals rushed to the spot and started a rescue operation. They fished out bodies from the Chenab despite heavy rainfall, Wani said.

Later, police and medical teams also rushed to spot and shifted the injured passengers to a local hospital at Thathri.

Later, the injured were referred to District Hospital, Doda, were they were given primary medical treatment. They were then referred to Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu.

The injured have been identified as Suman, a resident of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, Santosh Kumar, a resident of Pangai, Tara Chand, a resident of Pangai, Ram Singh, a resident of Kangra, and Sher Singh, a resident of HP, Block Medical Officer, Kishtwar, told The Tribune.

The bodies were shifted to District Hospital, Kishtwar, for postmortem.

The deceased have been identified as Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Solan in HP, Pyar Din of Kuthal village (Chamba), Prithvi Raj (driver) of Tatri (Chamba), Om Prakash, a resident of Pangai, and Shalu Devi of Pangai. Two bodies are yet to be identified.

Meanwhile, local MLA GM Saroori visited the spot along with the Kishtwar SP and took stock of the situation.

Chamba, April 19
A man who was impersonating as a military officer wearing a uniform with stars of Captain rank at the Chowari bus stand was arrested today. Later, the accused was brought to the court at Chamba where he was remanded in three-day police custody.

This was stated in a press note here by SP DK Chaudhary. The accused was identified as Tenzing Nortan (23). — OC