Solan, April 29
BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today exhorted the youth to support him and said their future would only be secure if they voted for a strong government at the Centre.

Addressing a well-attended gathering at Thodo Ground where people from the Shimla Lok Sabha seat marked their presence, Modi targeted the youth and said they should think about their future and not elect a government which would plunge the nation into darkness.

Drawing a similarity between Plus Two examinations which play a crucial role in shaping a student's future, he said voting for the right government was equally crucial. He tried to strike a local chord with the people time and again and his speech had several references to his past experience with Himachal which, he said, was close to his heart. He said he wanted 
one chance to repay to Himachal the love and affection which he had received and the people should ensure victory of all four BJP candidates in the poll.

Modi said the overwhelming response which he had received from the three rallies in the state would let down pundits who were making poll calculations in Delhi.

He urged the people to vote for Virender Kashyap and said unless the party secured 300 seats, it would not be able to form a strong government which could take the nation forward.

He said voters of the states where polling had taken place had already accomplished two crucial tasks, including the defeat of the Congress government. He said the voters had laid a strong foundation of the future government, but added that the people who were yet to vote should ensure that they vote for the BJP so that it secures adequate seats for forming a strong government.

Striking a chord with apple growers, Modi said the Vajpayee government had protected their interests by taking strong steps to curb the apple import but the Congress government had removed curbs, spelling doom for orchardists. He said no fruit processing industry had been opened here despite the presence of amicable weather conditions.

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failing to accept the Modi wave, he said how could he see the undercurrent of change when he had failed to see corruption, price rise, unemployment, plight of farmers and family members of slain soldiers. He said lakhs of farmers committed suicide under the Congress government.

Modi lauded the efforts of the paramilitary forces in guarding the nation and said his government would take effective steps to ameliorate their lot as the successive governments had failed to do anything for them.

He criticised the Congress for extending undue courtesy to the Pakistani Prime Minister at a time when Indian soldiers had been mercilessly killed and said Congress leaders were indifferent to their plight.

Others present included MP Virender Kashyap, in charge Himachal Balbir Punj, BJP state president Satpal Satti and general secretary Rajeev Bindal.

Bilaspur, April 29
“Yeh Dil Maange More” remark of Kargil hero Capt Vikram Batra by Narendra Modi at his election rallies in the hill state today created a flutter with the parents of the martyr taking serious objecting to politicisation of the sacrifice of their son.

Kamal Kanta Batra, mother of the martyr, asked the Gujarat Chief Minister to desist from politicising her son’s martyrdom and urged all pseudo-patriots like him to leave the families of martyrs alone.

“The BJP, quoting my son, is nothing but shameless rhetoric to garner the support of Army men and their families,” said Batra, AAP candidate from Hamirpur, on the reference made to her son by Modi at the election rallies he addressed at the Vikram Batra ground in Palampur and later in Mandi and Solan today.

Kamal Kanta was speaking at a roadshow here in the presence of AAP leader Gul Panag, who campaigned for Kamal Kanta here. “If the BJP and the Congress have so much respect for martyrs and their families, then why did they field a candidate against Vikram’s mother in Hamirpur,” remarked Gul on Modi’s remarks.

Palampur is the home town of the Kargil hero and his parents live here but his mother Kamal Kanta, a retired teacher, is contesting the election on the AAP ticket from Hamirpur. Using the slogan “Yeh Dil Mange More”, used by Vikram Batra after capturing the Tiger Hill during the Kargil conflict, Modi exhorted people of Himachal to support him and said he wanted all four seats in favour of the BJP.

“I abhor playing politics over the sacrifice of soldiers and politicians doing a “Kodak moment” with martyrs' families and forgetting them soon after,” she remarked. She asked three questions from Modi on his so-called love for martyrs and their families. “The quoting of my son is another event in this chain of cheap politics,” she lamented.

“No one came to the support of Kargil martyr Lt Saurabh Kalia's family whose mutilated body had been sent by Pakistan to India,” she quipped. She said the successive governments at the Centre failed to raise the issue at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“I want to ask all these leaders indulging in vote bank politics where they were when my son was fighting in Kargil,” she said. She further accused the NDA government of compromising the Army interest in scams such as the coffin procurement scam and the badly planned Operation Parakram ,” she said.

She asked Modi to spell out his stand on these issues rather than eye the serving and retired soldiers and their families as mere vote bank.

“Army men and their families are inadequately represented in Parliament. I'm making an attempt to represent them. For all his “respect”, why doesn't he withdraw his chargesheeted BJP candidate Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur,” she said turning the table on him.

There are more than three retired and serving soldiers in Himachal.

Sundernagar, April 29
Thousands of students and employees in various parts of the district had to suffer a lot as most of the buses were either hired or used to carry BJP workers to the election rally, which was addressed by Narendra Modi at the Paddal Ground in Mandi today.

As per reports received from the BJP office, at least 50 buses were hired per Assembly segment-wise (there are 17 Assembly segments in Mandi parliamentary constituency).

From early morning, a large number of students and employees were seen waiting for buses along the roadsides in various parts of districts, but few turned up.

The same situation was faced in various parts of the state as Narendra Modi addressed two more rallies at Palampur and Solan.

In Himachal, there were around 3 lakh employees and over 15,000 educational institutions. Lakhs of employees and students daily uses public transport to go to their respective destinations.

Students said if all buses were hired for the political rallies, how they would reach their schools.

Employees, who did not get buses to reach their offices, said, “The Election Commission has been doing much to check various malpractices, but it has done nothing to control this problem (non-availability of public transport).”

They suggested that such types of big rallies either be fixed for Sundays or proper public transport system be ensured.

Shimla, April 29
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said former Chief Minister PK Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur were chanting “Na Mo-Na Mo” as if Narendra Modi was God and there was no other leader other than the Gujarat Chief Minister in the BJP.

Addressing election meetings at Rampur and Nirmand in Shimla and Kullu districts in favour of his wife Pratibha Singh who is contesting from Mandi, he said the Congress was all set to win all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal.

Virbhadra said the BJP was creating such a hype about Modi as if there was only one person in the entire party who was eligible to become the Prime Minister of the country. “He has been the Chief Minister only thrice whereas I have had this honour on six occasions, so what is so great about the man who is being projected as the PM candidate,” he remarked.

Virbhadra said the successive Congress governments had never differentiated with any area of the state with regard to development as it had given equal priority to Hamirpur district like any other part of the state. “When the BJP comes to power, it indulges in step-motherly treatment as far as development is concerned,” he alleged.

He also took exception to Dhumal's statement that the IGMC would be renamed in the name of Atal Behari Vajpayee. “The Congress regime will never allow this. I have a lot of respect for Vajpayee, but renaming institutions is a bad precedent,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the Congress was instrumental in opening the IGMC in Shimla, DRPGMC at Tanda in Kangra and ESI Medical College at Mani. He added that the Centre had now approved three new medical colleges for Chamba, Sirmour and Hamirpur, which had rattled the BJP.

Virbhadra said he always treated the entire state as his home. “It is the BJP which has already created divide among the people of the state along regional and caste lines for their petty political motives,” he said.

Shimla, April 29
Dalit leaders, including the Congress, Bahujan Samajwadi Party and CPM, have raised their ante against Baba Ramdev for his reportedly anti-Dalit derogatory honeymoon and picnic remark made in reference to AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi eyeing a surge in Dalit’s vote bank against the BJP.

Baba Ramdev is in the state to support BJP candidate Shanta Kumar ahead of the Lok Sabha poll on May 7.

The real worry for the BJP is that Dalits constitutes about 24.7 per cent of the population and they vote in large numbers in all elections. In the 2012 Assembly elections, Dalits vote percentage was 75.15 per cent, the Scheduled Tribes percentage was 72 per cent and it was about 73.92 per cent in case of General Category voters, revealed figures of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Dalit leaders affiliated to the BJP SC cell have maintained their silence over the issue, but the SC Dalit cell of the Congress and CPM have upped their ante against Baba Ramdev.

Congress Scheduled Castes cell state president Suresh Kumar alleged that Baba Ramdev and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi represent the same anti-Dalit mindset as Baba Ramdev was supporting Modi in his yoga camps. “An FIR has been lodged against Baba Ramdev at Lucknow, but he should be arrested under the SC/ST Act for his anti-dalit derogatory honeymoon remark,” he charged.

Baba Ramdev got a blow as he got no relief from the high court on the ban on his yog shivirs imposed by the Returning Officer in Kangra.

Shanta Kumar had gone on record saying that he jumped into the political fray this time just because the yoga guru advised him to do so.

Though BJP leaders have maintained silence over Baba Ramdev’s comment, Dalits cutting across the party lines condemned the remark as it has brought embarrassment in the BJP camp ahead of poll.

Baba Ramdev is campaigning for Shanta Kumar in Kangra and Chamba not in Hamirpur, Mandi and Shimla, his supporters said, while trashing remarks against the yoga guru saying that he came from a Dalit family and did not insult Dalits.

“The derogatory language used by Baba Ramdev was punishable under the SC/ST Act and we would take this to logical conclusion,” charged Karam Chand Bhatia, state president, Sant Shri Ravidas Dharam Sabha. He lodged a complaint against Baba Ramdev at Sadar police station, Shimla.

Joining anti-Baba chorus are CPM candidate from Shimla Jagat Ram, Congress candidate Mohan Lal Brakta and BSP candidate Gurnam Singh Koli. They said the BJP should explain its stand on this.

Chamba, April 29
“All my programmes in Himachal Pradesh were got cancelled by the Election Commission under the pressure of the Congress,” alleged Swami Ramdev while addressing mediapersons here today. He said it was a big conspiracy against him.

Ramdev predicted that Indian politics was now taking a big turn and the results of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections would be unprecedented when the BJP would win more than 250 seats and form the government at the Centre with the support of its political allies while the Congress would be confined to hardly 50 seats in the country, said Ramdev.

Speaking about his ‘Patanjali Yog Sansthan’, Ramdev stated that the religious teachers (dharma gurus) had never imparted education of caste. He attacked Rahul Gandhi for using ‘Dalits’ as ‘vote bank’.

He alleged that the Congress had become ‘black’ due to the coal, black money or Bofors and helicopters scams, for which the Congress leadership was accountable.

Answering a query of a reporter, Ramdev described the recent controversial statement of Union Minister for New and Renewal Energy and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah as “anti-national”.

Dharamsala, April 29
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education, GS Bali, on Tuesday alleged Baba Ramdev was campaigning for BJP in Kangra parliamentary constituency. His official machinery was working for the BJP in the area, he stated.

He said the Election Commission had banned Ramdev's yoga programmes in the entire country. He had been barred from using his entire official machinery for electioneering, he added.

However, in Himachal, he was using his entire machinery to campaign for Shanta Kumar, he said. The Election Commission should include the entire expenditure being incurred by Baba Ramdev and his followers in Shanta Kumar's expenditure, alleged Bali.

Bali further alleged that all the posters of Baba Ramdev in Kangra parliamentary constituency were issuing appeals to people to vote for Narendra Modi.

Bilaspur, April 29
Actor-turned-politician and Aam Aadmi Party leader Gul Panag today said if the BJP and Congress had genuine respect for martyrs, why could the two parties not let Kamal Kanta Batra, mother of Kargil hero Vikram Batra, win unopposed.

Gul today arrived from Chandigarh to campaign in favour of AAP candidate Kamal Kanta Batra from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat. "If Modi has so much respect for Batra's mother, why can't he ask the BJP candidate Anurag Thakur to withdraw from the contest in favour of Batra?" she said.

The remarks by Narendra Modi who invoked Capt Vikram Batra's name at a rally had strong reactions from the parents of the Kargil hero whose slogan "Yeh Dil Maange More" became a rage during the conflict when it was flashed on television.

Gul wondered when the Congress and BJP could extend this "honour" of not fielding a candidate to Dimple Yadav, wife of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, why the two parties could not do the same for Mrs Batra. "All that the two parties have done is rendering lip service to martyrs and their families as their sole objective is vote bank politics," said Gul.

Gul arrived here today and started the roadshow from Kothipuri before driving through the main market of the town. She made a brief visit to the district courts, where she sought the cooperation of the lawyers and others for AAP's cause. Later, accompanied by Kamal Kanta Batra and her husband GL Batra, she drove to Barmana, where she interacted with workers at the cement plant.

Gul, who said she was an activist and not a politician, admitted that the AAP had made certain mistakes. "AAP is a political outfit which has launched several agitations and there could be occasion where we went wrong," she said. She added that she would continue to act as well as continue to serve the society by being in politics.

She said there was a very strong undercurrent in favour of the AAP which both the Congress and BJP sensed but refused to admit. "Kejriwal has launched a fight against corruption and he even forced big industrialists to give their clarification on various issues. It is only with the support of the people that he will be successful in his mission," she said.

Gul lauded the media for the work it was doing. "I can't speak on behalf of Kejriwal, but I firmly believe that the media is doing a great job and is making the people aware and bringing about a revolution," she said when asked about Kejriwal's outburst against the media.

Una, April 29
Industry Minister and Haroli MLA Mukesh Agnihotri today alleged that all types of mafias, including land grabbing, were active in the state when Prem Kumar Dhumal was the Chief Minister.

He was responding to Dhumal'?s charges that the Haroli Assembly segment was home to a number of mafias, including mining, liquor and drug mafias. The minister said Dhumal?'s campaign tour of the Haroli segment last Sunday was dismal as the attendance in the public meetings was very thin. This, he said had perturbed the former CM, who went on to call the people of Haroli as members of various mafias.

Addressing an election meeting at Haroli, Agnihotri said investigating agencies were already quizzing Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur on the land-grabbing charges in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) issue and that the Congress government would soon push the guilty behind the bars. He charged that the prime public land estimated at Rs 250 crore was acquired in the name of cricket and fraudulently grabbed by a private company owned by Anurag Thakur and Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Agnihotri said there was a group of BJP leaders in the Haroli segment, who were involved in unlawful activities, adding that after the elections, an appropriate action would be initiated against them. He said Dhumal would know that a person close to him runs an illegal tavern in Samnal village, while another of his supporters was known as the ?poppy husk king? of the area. Another BJP supporter and pradhan of a panchayat in the Haroli segment had 11 criminal cases registered against him, Agnihotri charged.

Una, April 29
State BJP president and Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti today challenged Haroli MLA and Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri to an open debate on various issues. These included funding for the Swan river flood management project and sanctioning of the Indian Institute of Information Technology for the district. Both issues have remained top on the agenda of rival parties during campaigning here.

Satti told mediapersons that it was Prem Kumar Dhumal, who had raised the issue of the river channelisation for the first time in Parliament when he was Lok Sabha MP from 1989 to 1996. Consequently, he said during Dhumal’s first tenure as CM, he laid the foundation stone of the first phase of the project, which aimed at creating stone-pitched embankments along the most vulnerable 16.7-km stretch of the river between the Jhalera and Santoshgarh bridges.

Satti said the first phase of the project, costing Rs 106 crore, was completed during the BJP regime.

When the Congress came to power in 2004, not even a single stone was laid on the river banks. He said when the BJP returned to power in 2008, the second phase of the flood management project from the Gagret bridge to the Santoshgarh bridge was initiated and completed at a cost of over Rs 200 crore.

The BJP president said the third phase of the project downstream the Santoshgarh bridge (4 km till the Punjab boundary) was also initiated during the BJP regime at a cost of Rs 45 crore. Finally, the Rs 922-crore fourth phase to create embankments on both banks of the 73 tributaries of the river was also initiated during the BJP regime. He, however, said due to a delay in project appraisal by various ministries in Delhi, the final sanction for the project took place after the Congress government had taken over in 2013.

Satti said even the groundwork for setting up the IT institute in Una was done during he BJP tenure. The Industry Minister was now trying to set up the institute in his home segment Haroli by destroying a nursery of the Horticulture Department at Saloh village. The Congress was merely trying to take the credit for the two schemes, for which it had made no efforts, he added.

Hamirpur, April 29
Anurag Thakur, BJP candidate from Hamirpur, has accused CM Virbhadra Singh and his family members of camping in Hamirpur to avoid questions from people of Mandi regarding their development promise.

He said the family was not in a position to answer as to what the CM and his wife had done for Mandi and it was now trying to mislead people of Hamirpur. He alleged, "Pratibha Singh asked only eight questions in Parliament, didn't spend Rs 2.66 crore from MPLAD fund and was busy sending bouquets to Central ministers to remain in news, but her 100 bouquets failed to bring any scheme for the state."

Thakur said, "Virbhadra Singh has turned Himachal Congress into Rohru Congress and the biggest example of this is giving Shimla Lok Sabha ticket to Mohan Lal Brakta who is MLA from Rohru, ignoring claims of other senior leaders."

Jubbal (Shimla), April 29
The day starts much before the dawn for Virender Kashyap, sitting BJP MP from the Shimla (reserved) constituency. He makes it a point not to miss his pranayam and kapal bhati in the midst of gruelling campaign in dusty roads in the remote hilly areas.

He pays obeisance to God before setting out for election campaign. With familiar smile on the face, his campaign style is simple, "Namaste with folded hands to oldies and women, hugging the known ones, shaking hands with the youth and blessings to kids."

Addressing 12 to 14 nukkar sabhas in sparsely populated villages, his campaign is punctuated with whistle stops for chatting with small groups of people enroute, spends 30 to 45 minutes at each meeting and makes it a point to spend a few minutes in crowded markets to reach out to the maximum number of people and extends his appeal for vote even to Congressmen.

He avoids staying in rest houses or hotels and his night halts are arranged in houses of the workers from where he starts the campaign for the next morning. Setting out for campaign from house of Pyare Lal in Boali village in Jubbal Kotkhai, he offers worship at famous Hatkoti temple and addresses a nukkar sabha at Saraswati Nagar.

Accompanied by former state Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta, who holds the command at the local level, he raises a slogan "Upar Narendra, Niche Narendra, beech mein Virendra" in a lighter vein to send a message that he enjoys the support and patronage of both leaders.

His speeches are compact, touching both national and local issues with no personal attack on any opposition leader and realising the import of cheap apple is a major issue in the area, he supports the demands to increase the import duty on apple to 100 per cent, better roads network and bats for legalising opium cultivation as an alternative crop for apple growers. Of course, he vividly tells the electorate about the achievements of the BJP government in the state to seek votes.

His next destination is Bichhana, where he encounters an embarrassing question from 77-year-old Mahananad of Ravi panchayat that "Where he has been during past five years and what has he done for the area."

"I am the only MP who has raised the voice of apple growers and promises speedy solution for problems in the NDA government" but Narinder Bragta comes to his aid and counts his achievements and the money spent from MPLAD funds for various schemes.

Not entering into any argument or making any explanation, Kashyap just tries to placate the older people saying that, "We are your kids and kids do make mistakes." However, they say that they are connected to local leaders and have complaint but vote for the BJP. "Etraj to hai par vote apko hi karenge", they say, adding to his comfort.

The next halt is the interior village of Bholar where the MP meets with a dedicated worker BS Sarta, who lost his father recently and in spite of an ailing wife, is campaigning for the party. During the meeting, villagers, mainly women, share their grievances about delay in getting cylinders and kerosene and Bragta says vote for Kashyap to address your problems.

In Mandal village, which is a focal point of four villages, the MP is given a "green carpet welcome" which the workers dub as an indication of green signal to voting him in the election. The MP, who got a sore throat, addressing number of public meeting in the past few days, speaks a little and talks about his proposal of constituting the Himalayan development board for development of 11 hilly states.

As the topography is difficult and area is wide, the MP does not waste time and has his lunch in the car while hoping from one place to another. He finishes his day by 11:30 pm after addressing public at Jagtan, Thana, Anti, Kathasu, Kuthdu, Batad Glu, Ponta Dhar, Sundali and Poonthi village and sleeps before he starts another day.

Kalpa (Kinnaur), April 29
The None of the Above (NOTA) option on electronic voting machines (EVMs) may not make any difference in the outcome of the elections. But it will help the electorate to send a strong message to political parties and leaders that people want to exercise their franchise, but they are not worthy of people’s votes.

This was stated by Shyam Saran Negi, who is the first voter of Independent India.

The new option introduced on the direction of the Supreme Court will enable the voters to express their resentment and show mirror to the candidates. If a large number of people opt for NOTA, political parties will be compelled to field good candidates, he feels.

My advice to people is that they must vote for development, good governance and building a better nation and hand over the command of the country to the best party, says Negi who virtually enjoys celebrity status on being the first person to cast vote after Independence. He has been made a brand ambassador of the Election Commission for creating awareness and motivating people towards voting.

“I am the first voter of Independent India by accident as the first elections in the tribal area were held in 1951 ahead of the elections in other parts of the country in 1952,” says 98-year-old Negi, who is living in tribal Kalpa village of Kinnaur district.

“I am grateful to God for long life and providing me opportunities to vote in all the 15 Lok Sabha and 14 Assembly elections held in the state so far,” he says while smoking hukka with his 92-year-old wife sitting by his side.

Negi, who has been hogging the limelight for quite some time, is not enamoured by the first-voter tag. However, being an educated person, he enjoys talking to people and discussing issues.

“There was limited staff even for conducting the polls and one polling officer covered 5-6 villages and polling continued for 10 days. He vividly remembers the first election in which he cast his vote and counts the polling booths covered by him on fingers,” he said.

Separate polling boxes were provided for each candidate and people were scared of voting as it was easy to find out that which village voted in favour or against a particular candidate and the villages which did not vote for the ruling party suffered discrimination. Gradually, a single box system was introduced and now the EVM has replaced the ballot boxes.

Women were uneducated and so innocent that when they were asked to put the stamp on “Hand” (the Congress symbol), they used to stamp their own hands and leave the polling booth. Things have changed and now rallies are preferred over door-to-door campaigning. Honesty and commitment have become rituals for voters who have become diplomatic and don’t reveal their mind. But one thing that remains unchanged is “liquor parties”.

A keen observer of the elections, Negi is not at all interested in contesting the elections and says that even after requests from people, I never contested the panchayat elections. Politicians generally become selfish and I always like a simple and clean life and left my job as a forest guard as there was a lot of corruption and people involved were our own people.

Mandi, April 29
Congress candidate from Mandi Pratibha Singh has said BJP candidate from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur is misleading people by telling them that she has not spent funds received under the MPLAD fund.

Addressing election meetings at Tatta Pani, Dharot and Kelo Dhar under Karsog Assembly segment of the Mandi constituency today, she said,“I have spent the entire amount of Rs 5,46,20,000 received under the fund in my constituency and certain people are making false propaganda in this regard.”

She said, “Instead of launching false propaganda, he should better seek information under the RTI Act from Parliament and stop misleading people to gain cheap popularity.”

Accusing Dhumal for allegedly patronising land mafia, she said, “Land to outsiders was sold during the BJP previous regime and several irregularities in this regard are being probed.”

Local MLA Mansa Ram and other leaders also addressed the meeting.

Cheog/Naldehra (Shimla), April 29
Congress candidate for the Shimla reserved constituency Mohan Lal Brakta claimed there was Virbhadra Singh wave in the constituency as the Congress government had four years in office, which had already sped up development work halted by the BJP during its rule in the state, as he put it.

Brakta is facing his main rival, BJP's sitting MP Virender Kashyap, while CPM's Jagat Ram and Aam Aadmi Party's Subhash Chander, BSP's Gurnam Singh Koli, Samajwadi Party's Shurvir Singh and Virender Kumar Kashyap, an Independent, are also in the fray this time.

Accompanied by Anirudh Singh, a Kasumpati Congress legislator, Mohan Lal Brakta, on the sidelines of his campaigns in Naldehra, Mashobra, Fagu, Cheog, Dharech, Koti and Junga, claimed they had covered Sirmaur, Solan and Shimla districts in this Lok Sabha seat.

"Congress has had almost four years in office and the government is committed to fulfilling all promises made in the election manifesto," he claimed. "It is only development that people want. Congress rejects BJP politics of dividing the country and people on the basis of religious and region to get votes," he further said.

Anirudh Singh told voters that the tempo of development had picked up in the constituency under Congress government.

The Shimla city Congress leader and former deputy mayor Harish Janartha, who accompanied Mohan Lal Brakta during his campaign in the city, claimed the Congress had an edge in the Shimla seat. "Congress is ruling the state and the present BJP MP Virender Kashyap faces an anti-incumbency factor as he did little for people in the entire Lok Sabha constituency," claimed Janartha.

Brakta further said people wanted roads, health and water services and cheap and quality rations in depots. "We will distribute equally the development funds which will be given under MPLAD fund," he added.

He claimed the voters were complaining that Kashyap never showed his face for the last five years as MP, a charge Kashyap denied, saying he distributed Rs 19 crore MPLADF in all segments during the last five years.

Meanwhile, CPM candidate Jagat Ram, who had earlier campaigned in the area, has been harping on man-wildlife conflict, poor roads and lack of doctors as issues to woo voters.

"The Congress and BJP represent sides of the same coin. Voters are disillusioned with them," he said.

Shimla, April 29
Up in arms against the alleged unconstitutional, anti-students and dictatorial attitude of the administration of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) at the behest of the state government, the Students Central Association (SCA) today held Vice-Chancellor Prof ADN Vajpayee responsible for the present mess and demanded his resignation.

About 500 students who carried out a peaceful procession from the Arts Block seeking negotiations with university authorities for settlement of the issues were stopped at the gate by the rapid action force following which students sat on a dharna on the gate to register their protest.

The SCA alleged in spite of charging heavy fees, the university has failed to provide basic facilities to students and was harassing students on one pretext or the other. It called upon all students' unions to join hands against the VC in the interest of students.

Having a dig at Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai, SCA leaders said it was intriguing that professors were continuing even after registration of cases against them, suspended lecturers being reinstated and in spite of three officers sitting on the post of the Controller of Examination, results of postgraduate courses were still pending after six months.

The academic atmosphere in the university has badly vitiated under the leadership of ADN Bajpai due to his arbitrary and democratic actions.

In his first year as the VC, he delayed the oath ceremony of elected SCA officers for nine months, dissolved the SCA prematurely in May in the second year in 2013 and repeated the same and dissolved the SCA on April 25 as students were raising their genuine demands, said Monika, joint secretary, SCA.

Bajpai's tenure as the VC would be remembered for corruption and fee hike, increasing non-subsidised seats without proper faculty and infrastructure, privatisation of examination and introducing self-financing courses, she added.

“We feel like prisoners on the university campus as all our fundamental rights had been suspended and even the right to lodge peaceful protest guaranteed to every Indian in the country snatched from students,” said Piyush Sewal, secretary, SCA.

The VC is responsible for all problems being faced by students and we urge the government to immediately remove him, he added.

Una, April 29
The District Non-Gazetted Officers (NGO) Federation has said there was widespread resentment among their cadre due to pay anomalies and non-payment of arrears.

Association president Vipan Rana, chairman YPS Raizada and general secretary Ramesh Thakur have said despite a government notification, some departments have not paid the arrears of dearness allowance due since July 2013.

Employee leaders said special increments on the completion of 4,9 and 14 years of service had not been given to their cadre in many departments and Class IV employees, who had been given the special increment on completion of 14 years of service, were still devoid of the grade pay of Rs 1,900 per month.

Federation leaders charged that junior technicians working in the Irrigation department have not been given the benefis on completion of 4,9 and 14 years of service. — OC

Solan, April 29
Lt Gen Philip Campose, AVSM, VSM, GOC-in-C, Western Command, today unveiled the bust of Late Major Udai Singh at the soldier’s alma mater at Army Public School, Dagshai, today.

The soldier laid his life for the country in an insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir in 2003.

He said he displayed most conspicuous gallantry while facing the enemy and his decision to confront terrorists was in the highest tradition of the Indian Army that earned him the Shaurya Chakra in January 2004.

He said Udai’s undying spirit, heroic deeds and achievements would remain etched in their memory forever. Parents of Late Major Udai Singh -- Col KKK Singh (retd) and Sudha KK Singh -- and other family members were also present.

It was worth mentioning that late Maj Udai Singh had made a supreme sacrifice on November 29, 2003, during the Operation-Rakshak while fighting with militants in the thick forests of Jammu and Kashmir.

Lt Gen Ravindra Pratap Sahi, GOC 2 Corps and patron of the school and Brig OP Singh, Commandant 14 GTC and chairman of the school, Dr Vijay Dutta, principal, APS, Dagshai, were also present on the occasion.