Chandigarh, May 31
Spelling fresh trouble for the Haryana unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), two of its prominent faces, psephologist-turned-politician Yogendra Yadav and national executive member Naveen Jainhind, have resigned from various posts of the party.

Sources said Yadav resigned as AAP Haryana unit in charge, owning moral responsibility for the party's poor performance. AAP had secured only 4.2 per cent of total votes and Yadav had come a poor fourth from Gurgaon, getting just over 79,000 votes.

Jaihind, who was the candidate from Rohtak, resigned over his differences with Yadav, his style of functioning and the recent show-cause notice issued to him by the party's Political Affairs Committee. Confirming that he had sent his resignation to the party top brass, Jainhind said he would continue to work as a volunteer.

In his reply to the show-cause notice, Jaihind pointed out that internal democracy was sidelined under Yadav's leadership, undeserving candidates were given the ticket and a show-cause notice was issued to him at a time when the party should have been discussing Kejriwal's jail term.

Kejriwal had not accepted the resignations yet. The resignations are crucial since Assembly elections are due in October. The party, after the Delhi Assembly election results, had repeatedly announced that Haryana would be its next battleground, given Kejriwal's roots in the state.

However, the party proved to be a virtual non-starter in the General Election, with its candidates failing to make their presence felt in the 10 seats of the state. Immediately after launching the party in the state, Yadav was projected as the chief ministerial candidate.

After the initial hype, the party had struggled to keep itself in the contest during the General Election. It is learnt to be weakening further since its poor performance in Haryana, with workers gradually moving out.

Sources said the party, stung by the recent rout at the national level, had decided to focus on the Delhi Assembly elections and consider contesting from Haryana. Last week, during a meeting chaired by Yadav, the party had decided to contest all 90 Assembly seats in the state.

The resignations from various party posts come within days of senior AAP leaders Shazia Ilmi and Capt GR Gopinath resigning from the party on grounds of lack of inner party democracy.

Faridabad, May 31
Travelling on the Faridabad-Gurgaon highway will pinch the commuters from tomorrow as the concessionaire operating this route has hiked the toll charges. Thousands of vehicles use this odd 30-km-long stretch daily.

The state government vide its circular issued recently has okayed the hike as per the provisions of notification of the PWD regarding the operation of the roads built on the BOT (build operate transfer) basis. This will revise the toll rate between Rs 20 and Rs 300 per vehicle one way. While the owners of the cars, jeep, three wheelers and small vehicles will have to shell out Rs 20 per visit, it will be Rs 300 per passage for the multi-axle vehicles having more than 10 wheels. Earlier, the car and jeep owners had to pay Rs 15 per passage and the highest charge was Rs 250 for the large-axle vehicles.

While the vehicles carrying agricultural produce, defence personnel and two wheelers are exempted from the toll, this is the second hike since the toll plaza came into existence two years ago. The hike will be Rs 110 per vehicle for buses and the LCV category, while it will be Rs 60 for tractor-trailers. The heavy vehicles will have to pay Rs 230 instead of Rs 200. The rates of daily and monthly passes will also be revised.

A spokesperson for the toll company claimed that hike had been finalised as it had been approved by the state government. The state government had got this four-lane highway constructed on the BOT basis and has been able to cut short the travelling time between Faridabad and Gurgaon by at least half an hour.

“This is despite the fact that the state government has set up a committee to look into the relief to be provided from toll plazas in the state, as heavy resentment prevails among the commuters over the toll menace,” claimed Mahesh Sharma, a daily commuter.

Sirsa, May 31
The Haryana Congress President Ashok Tanwar today dismissed criticism by a section of the party leaders over the appointment of observers, and said anyone who wanted to work was welcome to join them.

Responding to remarks of senior party leader Birender Singh and Sadhora MLA Rajpal Bhukhri in a section of media, where they were reported to have slammed the appointment of observers due to their allegiance to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda camp, Tanwar maintained that no favours have been done in the appointment of observers.

“I have always been telling party workers that those who are interested in working for the Congress should volunteer their names. Those who had the will to work for the Congress have themselves given their names to me,” said Tanwar, who was accompanied by Bachan Singh Arya, who has been appointed as the observer for Sirsa.

After Tanwar released a list of 21 observers, one each for the 21 districts of Haryana yesterday, both Birender Singh, who has been demanding Hooda’s resignation for the party’s rout in parliamentary polls and Bhukhri, a known supporter for former Union Minister Kumari Selja, had raised questions on the appointment of observers.

Meanwhile, Tanwar today launched the Congress’ preparations for the upcoming Assembly polls by addressing a meeting of party workers in the Congress Bhawan at Sirsa today.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh, who is to start his state wide campaign to meet party workers from Sonepat on June 5, is scheduled to visit Sirsa on June 6.

Besides Hooda, AICC General Secretary in charge for Haryana Shakeel Ahmed, co-in charge Asha Kumari and Ashok Tanwar will address party workers at Sirsa on June 6 to motivate them for upcoming Assembly polls.

Hooda will also review works under the CM’s announcement in the district in a meeting with the district level officers.

Jhajjar, May 31
Congress legislators from Rohtak parliamentary constituency comprising Rohtak and Jhajjar districts have embarked on a damage control exercise after the dismal performance by the party in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Though the Congress nominee from Rohtak, Deepender Hooda, was victorious, but his below par performance in Bahadurgarh, Rohtak and Kosli Assembly segments set the alarm bells ringing for all nine MLAs of the constituency, who have to regain the public’s confidence.

Eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, the MLAs have not only began taking stock of the ongoing development works by carrying out spot visits in their Assembly constituencies, but also launched a special move to appease the disgruntled locals and win back their confidence.

Notably, the Rohtak parliamentary constituency comprises of Rohtak, Kalanaur, Garhi-Sampla Kiloi and Meham (all in Rohtak), Jhajjar, Badli, Bahadurgarh and Beri (all in Jhajjar); Kosli in Rewari is the lone constituency where all Assembly segments were represented by Congress legislators.

A Congress MLA, who is under-fire from the people of his own community due to his ‘indifference’ towards them, recently organised a special tea party to please some discontented councillors, who did not like his style of functioning despite being associated with the Congress.

“The outcome of the Lok Sabha polls have given the Congress MLAs an opportunity to evaluate their performances, and they are not leaving any stone unturned to cover-up the damage occurred in the elections,” said Satish Tyagi, a political analyst.

He maintained such sorts of exercise were imperative to retain the party ticket in the Assembly polls for the Congress MLAs or else it could spell disaster on their political prospects.

Karnal, May 31
Amid suspense over the alliance of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan blamed the HJC candidates, who lost even at those booths where the BJP had a strong hold.

He was at the Panchayat Bhawan today to interact with party workers. He said, “The decision over an alliance will be taken by the central leadership of the BJP. They will also decide who will contest from where.”

He added we have followed the alliance dharma and less than 45 seats would not be acceptable by the HJC. The decision to ascertain the candidates would be taken between June 15-20. — TNS

Hisar, May 31
Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi has stated that Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal is the lifeline of the state and he would discuss the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.

Addressing a workers meeting in Hansi town of the district today, Bishnoi stated, “I have sought time to meet the Prime Minister to discuss state specific issues. I am sure that he would take positive steps on this issue.”

Bishnoi claimed that around 90 per cent of the construction work on the SYL was completed during the tenure of his father former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, but subsequent governments were least bothered about taking the remaining work ahead that had harmed the interest of the people in the state. Bishnoi’s stance on the SYL indicates that he was willing to take the Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal directly on the SYL issue. Badals had supported Bishnoi’s arch rival INLD in Haryana. INLD candidate Dushyant Chautala defeated Bishnoi from Hisar. — TNS

Sirsa, May 31
The squall that hit the region Friday evening claimed two lives in Dhudianwali of Sirsa district. Two sisters, Kavita (18) and Manita (15), were killed when a 20-ft-high wall of their house fell on them in Goshala village. Both received injuries and were taken to a hospital where they died.

Yamunanagar, May 31
Two Army doctors were killed and two sustained serious injuries when the car they were travelling in collided with a tractor-trailer on National Highway 73A near Araiyawala village yesterday.

The deceased were identified as Lt Bhavna Malik and Lt SRD Sawantha. The injured officers, Lt Devdutt and Lt D Devanath were refereed to Military Hospital, Ambala, where their condition is stated to be stable.

Sources said all four officers joined the Military Hospital, Ambala, as doctors several months ago.

The police the four retuning to Ambala from Dehradun.

The Khizrabad police have booked an unknown driver of the tractor-trailer under the Indian Penal Code.

Rohtak, May 31
Suspicion about a woman's character has claimed the lives of her husband and one-year-old daughter. Their bodies were found in their car along a road near Suncity township this morning.

Some morning walkers spotted them and informed the police. On opening the car, the police found them dead. The man had seemingly consumed some poisonous substance after administering it to his daughter.

The police identified Gautam, a factory owner, on the basis of documents. They informed his family, who confirmed that the bodies were of Gautam and his daughter. In his suicide note, Gautam held his wife responsible for the deaths. The suicide note indicated that Gautam suspected his wife's character and had asked her several times to mend her ways.

Yamunanagar, May 31
The police have arrested a youth on the charge of raping a 13-year-old girl. The police said the girl went missing on May 10 and her father got a case registered in this regard.

Her parents spotted her with Anil Kumar of Yamunanagar at the railway station last night. They informed the police, who detained them.

The victim told the police that Anil had been raping her for the last six or seven months. She added that he had taken her to Devriya in Bihar on the pretext of marriage.