New twist to Pramod’s remarks

NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (UNI) — The controversy over Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan’s reported remarks equating Congress President Sonia Gandhi with Monica Lewinsky took a new twist today with the Minister accusing The Hindustan Times of distorting its correspondent’s news copy on his speech and the daily standing by its report.

Mr Mahajan released to newspersons a copy of a hand written letter purportedly sent by the daily’s Mumbai bureau chief Pramod Pagedar to the paper’s Executive Editor Bharat Bhushan protesting against the distortion at "the Delhi end" of his report to substantiate his assertion that he had never equated Mrs Sonia Gandhi with the former White House intern.

Mr Mahajan said The Hindustan Times was the only paper which had reported that he had equated the two.

Later, Mr Bharat Bhushan in a statement said the paper stood by its report and also released the news copy filed by Mr Pagedar from Amravati in Maharashtra on Mr Mahajan’s speech to stress the point that the "core" of the report was published verbatim.

Deras, urban voters to seal fate
From Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

SANGRUR: Heads deras and the urban voter will decide the fate of Akali titans Surjit Singh Barnala and Simranjit Singh Mann who are locked in a bitter fight for supremacy in this constituency. The contest is fast developing into a triangular one with the CPM candidate gaining ground.

A predominantly rural constituency, deras, including that of Sachcha Sauda, command a substantial number of votes.The last elections had seen the emergence of the young Sant Daler Singh of Kheri as a factor in the poll process.

Right now the 18-year old sant has not issued any edict but is believed to be sympathetic to Akali Dal (Amritsar) President Simranjit Singh Mann. The Amritsar Dal chief is also likely to benefit from the support of Dhanaula-based Sant Tek Singh perceived to be close to the Sarb India Shiromani Akali Dal president Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

Office-bearers of Sachcha Sauda had openly canvassed for Mr Barnala last time which had helped him tremendously as its followers account for nearly one lakh votes. However, this time the Dera leadership is wary of giving open support to Mr Barnala. The SAD leader, however, claim that the office-bearers of the dera have assured him of support.The Hindu factor is likely to be decisive.

The Hindus seem undecided. There is resentment against Mr Barnala, particularly in Barnala town as he has been accused of ignoring the interests of urban people.What may also trouble Mr Barnala further is the fact that some of the urban votes, which have traditionally gone to the Congress, are likely to be polled by the CPM-Congress nominee, Mr Ajit Singh. Congress leaders, including Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, have been campaigning hard for the latter.

Mr Barnala has been attending a number of tea and dinner meetings hosted by prominent citizens to placate the urban voters.Mr Mann has also been interacting with the Hindu community in Barnala and Sangrur. He is at pains to complain that he has dropped the “Khalistan” issue. He has also been giving assurances to the trading community that their interests will not be ignored.

The Muslim votes of Malerkotla are likely to go to Mr Mann again. This time he talks of the “fanatic” Dara Singh who allegedly killed a Muslim in Orissa. Muslims last time had voted for Mr Mann due to their resentment against the BJP for demolishing the Babri Masjid.

Mr Barnala has been meeting supporters of party secretary-general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa to solicit their support. It is, however, to be seen how successful he is in this exercise. Dhindsa supporters by and large campaigned for him during the visit of Chief Minister.

They have not been very active otherwise.The position of CPM nominee Ajit Singh seems to have strengthened following a whirlwind tour by Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia of this constituency.

The CPM Secretary, Mr Harkishan Singh Surjit also visited the constituency. His campaign has picked up in the past few days.