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Badal to take oath tomorrow
Chandigarh, February 28 Sources at the Raj Bhavan said the Governor had invited Badal to take oath as Chief Minister on Friday( March 2). Badal was accompanied to the Raj Bhavan by SAD secretary Daljit Singh Cheema and former media advisor Harcharan Singh Bains. With the election of Badal as leader of the SAD-BJP group, the persisting speculation with regard to the taking over the reins of the SAD-BJP government by his son Sukhbir Singh has come to an end. Commenting on the election of Badal as leader, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said Badal was an obvious choice. He was the leader who assured the victory of the SAD-BJP combine and was the main speaker at all election meetings held in constituencies where the BJP had put up its candidates. Earlier, the joint meeting of the SAD-BJP MLAs, Badal’s name to elect him as leader was proposed by Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and it was seconded by Tikshan Sud, a BJP MLA and the second backer of his name was Capt Kanwaljit Singh, the SAD MLA from Banur. His election as leader greeted by raising slogans of “Bole-so-nihal” by the MLAs of both the parties. At the meeting senior Akali leaders including Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa were present. The senior leader of the BJP including,
Venkaiha Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Mr Thawar Chand Gehlot and Avinash Rai Khanna was also present at this meeting beside others. Earlier in the day, Badal was elected as leader of the SAD legislature group at a separate meeting. The three independent MLAs, who have extended their support to Badal at Iqbal Singh Jhoonda, who has been elected from Dhuri, Madan Lal Thekedar, who has been elected from Ghanaur and Charanjit Singh Channi, who has been elected from Chamkaur Sahib. While, Iqbal Singh is from
Akali ranks, both Madan Lal and Charanjit Singh were earlier members of the Congress. While extending the support to Badal, Channi said “ people have given their verdict in support of the SAD-BJP and respecting the people’ mandate he had taken the decision in this regard”. Similar views were expressed by Madan Lal and Iqbal Singh. The SAD leadership claim that another independent MLA, Sangat Singh Giljian was in touch with the party. Talking about the oath taking ceremony, Badal said that he would invite senior BJP leaders to attend the function. He said that he would like the presence of the BJP leader of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and some of the Chief Minister of the BJP and NDA ruled states.
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VVIPs invited to Badal’s oath-taking ceremony
Chandigarh, February 28 Chief Minister of the neighbouring Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also expected to be
invited, while former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, known to be a friend of the Badal family, will also be present. Other than these, judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, senior officials of the Chandigarh Administration, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army will also be invited. There will be a separate enclosure for all MLAs, including those of the Congress. Entry for members of the public will be open. Invitees will include former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, president of the BJP Rajnath
Singh, Chief Ministers of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje Scindia, of Bihar Nitish Kumar, of Madhya Pradesh Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan, former Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa, of Himachal Pradesh P.K. Dhumal, of J & K Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah. Badal’s personal friend PMK leader Vaiko will also be invited.
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Elated, Badal buries bitter past
Chandigarh, February 28 Badal,
whose fierce political enmity with former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had drawn the attention of the entire nation, today made it clear that “poll verdict in favour of the SAD-BJP alliance was a mandate for
peace, harmony and development”. He declared that the new government “will seek the cooperation from every section, including principal Opposition in the state so that we can make a concerted and all-out efforts to attack poverty, backwardness, unemployment, economic and social disparities and inflation”. “Above all, we start the era of constructive economic, social and political cooperation in the state for the welfare of the people and development of the state. Punjab belongs to all of us and so does this
government. The mandate signals the start of fresh dawn of hope and optimism based on consensus and conciliation, rather than confrontation”, he said. The SAD leader said,“ We will put development, rule of law and civilised values in public life back on course. People have given us a direction to take Punjab forward and make it a spearhead in global development and progress. We will commit ourselves to these tasks from the day one of the new government”, he said. And there will also be no confrontation, which used to be highlight of the SAD politics a few years ago, with the Congress-led Union Government. “After taking oath, I will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Union ministers some day to seek their support for the development of the state”, he added. Immediately after the victory of the SAD-BJP combine in the recently held elections, speculation had started in the print media with regard to continuation of vendetta politics. There was apprehension that Badal would unleash the Vigilance Bureau on Capt Amarinder Singh and other ministers in the previous government to avenge what was done to him and his former ministerial colleagues by the Congress government. However, from today’s statement, it is clear that Badal is not in a mood for such an exercise. He appears to have the understanding that there is no use of creating further bad blood in state’s polity. He said he would not jump the “rule of law” (Laxman rekha) while dealing with his opponents. However, making a sharp comment on the performance of the previous government, he said, “The situation in the state is truly worrying, thanks to
skewed priorities of the previous government. Punjab presents a landscape of despair in which everything lies in a state of government neglect. Everything needs a comprehensive reconstruction”. Revealing his economic priorities, he said agriculture, trade, industry, power, infrastructure and services sector deserved equal emphasis. “In addition, we have to fight the menace of unemployment and poverty in a big way. And tackle every problem by involving people and their representatives in the decision-making process”. He said he would honour all commitments made to people. “We are committed to providing atta and dal at Rs 4 and Rs 20 per kg, respectively”, he said. The welfare of Dalits, expansion of trade and industry was top on his
agenda, he added.
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Dullo may pay the price for poll debacle
Ludhiana, February 28 It is learnt he may be asked to resign, in case he does not do so on his own. Senior leaders including caretaker Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh and Dullo are in Delhi to review the party’s debacle in the state. Dullo suffered the worst setback having failed to win his election from Khanna, which his wife, Harbans Kaur Dullo, held in the previous term. Moreover, he is also being blamed for the choice of some wrong candidates ignoring loyal and winning candidates. Although Dullo has accepted moral responsibility as the party president in the state, he has not shown inclination to tender resignation. His supporters have been arguing he alone cannot be blamed and held responsible for party’s poor performance. But his detractors have been getting more vocal. The party had appointed him the state’s president with great expectations of winning over the Dalit votes. Dullo himself is a Dalit. However, it proved quite otherwise. Particularly in the Doaba region, where the dalits have significant presence, the party performed quite badly. In fact if the party had performed a little better in the Doaba and Majha regions, it could have retained power. The party’s success in rural areas in the Malwa belt is being attributed more to personal charisma of Capt Amarinder Singh than to the Congress as he is credited with having introduced Bt cotton and abrogated the Water Treaties Act, both of which benefited the farmers of that region. The party is learnt to be thinking seriously about strategy regarding the local bodies elections which are due in May. With such a poor performance in all urban areas of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, the party wants a better makeover for these elections. That may expedite Dullo’s replacement, probably, with a Hindu leader, who commands confidence and appeal among the urban people.
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Badals’ graft case: Heated exchanges between lawyers
Ropar, February 28 Arguments between the prosecutor Deol, and district attorney Mehta, surfaced after the Badals’ counsel former Advocate General H.S. Mattewal, completed arguments against the framing of charges against SAD general secretary Sukhbir Badal and Surinder Kaur Badal. Mr Deol wanted to continue arguments to reply on the application moved by defence counsel in connection with Income Tax report but district attorney, Mehta, asked Deol to seek adjournment in the case saying he had direction from the higher officials concerned. When second time Mr Mehta asked Mr Deol for the adjournment it led to disagreement between the two. Intervening, the Judge asked Mr Deol to continue his arguments in the case. Contesting the defence’s plea to discharge Badals in the case as Income Tax report had given them a clean chit, Mr Deol citing various judgements said at the stage of framing of charges no documents except the challan should be taken into considerations. So the Income Tax reports were not relevant at this stage. Moreover IT reports are opinions. Besides it, Badals’ counsel Mattewal moved an application seeking contempt against the prosecution alleging that it had been changing its stand regarding corruption charges levelled against Sukhbir Badal. The prosecution had different view in the high court and it expressed different in this court. Concluding arguments against the framing of charges in a case of Surinder Kaur Badal and Sukhbir Badal, Mattewal said the Vigilance Bureau had failed to establish allegations against them. While the vigilance had falsely implicated Badal as what surfaced from the statements of witnesses mentioned in the case. Moreover the Income Tax report had termed the Vigilance Bureau evaluation regarding the assessment of Badals’ property wrong. Later district attorney Pradeep Mehta, said we did not have all documents to file a reply on the
application moved by the defence therefore he was asking for the
adjournment in the case, he added.
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Kalia is leader of BJP in House
Chandigarh, February 28 Senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitely, Venkaiah Naidu, Navjot Singh Sidhu, R.P. Singh and Avinash Rai Khanna participated in the meeting here this afternoon to elect a leader of the legislative party and also to elicit the response of the MLAs of various other issues. These included the demand for the post of Deputy Chief Minister. The election of Kalia shows which way the BJP’s Punjab unit is swaying. He is close to several of the senior BJP leaders and enjoys a good working relationship with Balramji Dass Tandon, who is tipped to be the next chief of the BJP’s Punjab unit. Tandon is considered to be close to former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. Sources within the party say it was more or less clear that the BJP will seek ministerial berths directly in proportion to the number of seats it has won. By that yardstick the party should get at least five-six ministerial berths out of the total share of 17. Within the BJP, there are no more than six MLAs who have been ministers in the pervious governments. Several of the winning MLAs are
first-timers. However, a few, who have been re-elected, may be considered. Representation will have to be given to all districts, said a senior leader. To decide on the candidates for ministership, the BJP top leadership will be meeting in Delhi tonight. Though, Arun Jaitely stone-walled questions if the BJP would seek the post of Deputy Chief Minister, sources said everything was being kept open ended by the BJP. Meeting reporters here today, Jaitely said “no discussion on the shape of the government has taken place”.
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Wings of tainted SGPC secretary clipped
Amritsar, February 28 However, the press note, issued here stated the
transfers were done on 'administrative grounds'. Though Harbeant Singh
was dismissed as secretary of the SGPC on charges of having the job on
the basis of fake certificate of matriculation during the tenure of
Gurcharan Singh Tohra in 2004, yet he was re-instated by giving him
'clean chit' for reasons known to the authorities concerned. Instead of
collecting ‘fine’, slapped on him, he was given plum postings of
secretary (General) and personal assistant to the SGPC chief despite
objections in the Panthic circles. A number of cases were filed in the
Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission and other courts against the
re-instatement of Harbeant Singh. Today, in a an order, issued by the
SGPC chief here today posted Dalmegh Singh as secretary, Section 87
gurdwaras and Secretary Trusts. Earlier, he was transferred as Secretary
Dharam Parchar. Similarly, Roop Singh, additional secretary has been
posted personal assistant to the SGPC chief who will also look after the
revenue section. Waryam Singh has been posted Secretary Dharm Parchar
while Joginder Singh, assistant secretary has been posted In charge
Education and Internet Section. Daljit Singh Bedi, an assistant
secretary will look after publicity and Section 85 gurdwaras. Tarlochan
Singh has transferred from Flying to Trust. Mohinder Singh has been
transferred from Dharm Parchar to flying department. Satbir Singh has
been transferred to Section 87 while Major Singh Rataoul has been made
coordinator of Virsa Sambhal drive.
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For Cong, Hoshiarpur same as rest of Doaba
Chandigarh, February 28 The Congress lost the Tanda Assembly seat simply for allotting the ticket to the wrong candidate. Here a Congress rebel, Sangat Singh Gilzian, was denied the ticket at the last moment. Having contested the seat as an Independent, Gilzian managed to return home triumphant polling 46,915 votes, while the Congress official nominee Supinder Kaur Kalkat polled only 4,589 votes putting her in the third spot. Sitting SAD legislator Balbir Singh Miani came second by polling 34,109 votes. Mukerian, neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, saw BJP nominee Arunesh Shahker defeat Rajnish Kumar, son of Punjab speaker Kewal Krishan by 14,678 votes. Shahker, a former MLA, is now in the race for a ministerial berth in the SAD-BJP government. Another surprise in the area was the victory of Amrajit Singh Sahi, who defeated four-time Congress MLA and sitting minister Ramesh Dogra by 9,274 votes. The BSP nominee lost his deposit. The constituency, that saw 73.84 per cent polling, clearly came out with a vengeance for change as Dogra has over the years made many detractors for his style of functioning and concentrating developmental work to his home region at the cost of other areas in the constituency. Yet another ministerial claim from the area is that of Mohinder Kaur Josh who defeated Chaudhry Ram Lubhaya by 2,817 votes. She polled 37,739 and the constituency recorded 72.82 per cent polling. In Mahilpur and Gardhiwala, the Akali candidates established a convincing leads over Congress
nominees. Mahilpur recorded 69.81 percent polling. Here Sohan Singh Thandal of the SAD defeated Dilbag Rai of the Congress by 11,833 votes. Thandal polled 31,099 votes and Rai got 19,266. In Gardhiwala, where 64.79 polling took place, sitting SAD MLA Des Raj Dhugga polled 42,830 votes, 20,394 votes more than his nearest Congress rival Jasbir Singh Pal of the Congress. The Hoshiarpur seat, which was initially projected to be a keen contest between the BJP and the Congress, went to BJP’s Tikshan Sood with a margin of 4,401 votes. He defeated Charanjit Singh Channi of the Congress who polled 36,908 votes. This constituency incidentally recorded the lowest polling in the Hoshiarpur parliamentary segment at 61.92 per cent. The Congress believes that a low turnout was responsible for its defeat.
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Business school to be set up at Banur
Chandigarh , February 28 The approval communicated by the council to the Secretary, Punjab Technical Education, Chandigarh , on February 14 has paved the way for the establishment of Swami Vivekanand School of Management at
Ramanagar at Banur. The first of its kind in this part of the region, the business school will function as a "deemed university". From designing syllabus to awarding degrees, everything will be "internal". The school will offer postgraduate programme in management (PGDM) to 60 students from 2007-08 academic session. As of now, Panjab University and a few other institutes in the region, including Thapar institute at Patiala , are offering degrees in management. The Chief Executive Officer of Swami Vivekanand Group of Institutes, Manmohan Garg, says the programme carries the values of a professional course, against a mere degree in management. He adds that the admission process for the two-year duration course will be carried out "in accordance with the regulations notified by the AICTE from time to time" and the capitation fee will not be charged from the students or their guardians. "Admission will be purely on the basis of merit. For carrying out the selection process, we plan to follow standardised management entrance tests practices laid down by Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT), Xavier's Management Test (XAT) and Management Aptitude Test (MAT),"
he asserts. Institute Director Dr. P.P Arya says while the universities follow traditional curriculum, the institute has already designed its own “rigorous” syllabus for making studies all the more interactive for the students. Dr Arya has over 40 years of teaching and research experience. Out of the total, he has spent 35 years at the University Business School (UBS) of Panjab
University. Elaborating, Head of the PGDM department Dr Praveen Kataria says: "The course outline designed by us aims at overall development of students for making them goal oriented, innovative and creative. The homogeneous integration of theory and practical knowledge will not only create post-graduates in management, but professionals ready to fit in the corporate culture". An "Advisory Academic Council" of eminent persons has been also established for ensuring overall growth of the institute. The members include former UBS Chairman Dr
S.P. Singh, Prof R.K. Gupta from the Department Correspondent Studies, and the Chairman of Ind-Swift Limited, Dr Gopal Munjal, along with CEO of Swift Education Anshu Katria Besides this, the group is also developing the first private technology park by any educational institute. Swami Vivekanand Technology Park is expected to act as an information technology hub for firms and professionals.
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BSP’s performance in Kapurthala district poorer
Kapurthala, February 28 BSP candidate from Phagwara (SC) seat Harbhajan Singh could not even get required one-sixth, just over 16.5 per cent, of total valid polled 1,02,241 votes. He secured only 12210 votes. Thus lost his security deposit of Rs 2500. Similarly BSP candidates had to be content with only negligible votes in other three seats of Bholath, Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi. Its candidates Tilak Raj got only 928 votes out of total 89,705 votes in Bholath, Sukhwinder Singh got only 1026 votes out of total 93230 votes in Kapurthala and Gurdas Ram could get only 1361 votes out of total 92263 votes in Sultanpur Lodhi. So much so, Devi Dass Nahar’s BSP (Ambedkar) candidates got votes compared to BSP candidates in Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi. BSP (A) candidate Jia Lal Nahar got 2226 votes in Kapurthala, while its candidate Balwant Singh Sultanpuri got 1765 votes in Sultanpur Lodhi. — TNS
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Police clueless on firing by BJP man
Amritsar, February 28 The Deputy Commissioner cum District Election Officer had asked all people to deposit their fire arms in view of the elections, failing which the department would be forced to take action and banned the carrying or using the weapons. However, the BJP activist violated rules to celebrate the victory. Even though the photograph of the BJP activist who reportedly fired into air in the BJP’s office at Khanna samark was published in several newspapers but the authorities concerned did not to inform their senior police officers. Mr Kaustubh Sharma, SP city feigning ignorance about the incident said he was not informed about this. while Mr Baldev Singh, SHO D-division police station said the police was investigating the incident. However, he added it was not confirmed whether the incident took place at Khanna Samark near Durgiana police chowki as it was not clear in the picture published in the newspapers or as claimed in the news. This has raised many eyebrows as the matter could be hushed-up in view of the formation of the SAD-BJP combine government in the state.
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Dimpa’s brother indicted
Amritsar, February 28 The indicted persons included four gunmen of Dimpa, who have already been arrested by the Majitha police. However, two persons have been found innocent. R.L. Bhagat, DIG, Border Range, has confirmed the completion of report by SIT. The SIT has recommended presenting of challan against the accused. It has also recommended initiating the process of declaring four absconding accused as proclaimed offenders.
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Confusion over votes secured
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 28 As per information provided by the election tehsildar’s office to mediapersons, Didar Singh Bhatti of the SAD won by 20,340 votes in Sirhind, polling 58,576 votes, as against 38,236 votes polled by Harbans Lal of the Congress, while Sadhu Singh Dharmsot of the Congress won by 5,952 votes in Amloh, polling 58,287 votes, as against 52,335 votes polled by Satwinder Kaur Dhaliwal of the SAD. But surprisingly, the official list available with the NIC showed that Bhatti polled 58,578
votes and Lal 35,179, the former winning by 23,399 votes, and Dharmsot polled 59,556 votes and Dhaliwal 52,879, the former winning by 6,677 votes. The different figures provided by the election tehsildar’s office created confusion among candidates and the people and put a stigma on the working of the office.
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J.P. Gupta heads lok adalat
Bathinda, February 28 The adalat deals with disputes regarding transport service by road, air and water, service provided by the insurance sector, hospitals and dispensaries, electricity and water supply, telegraph and telephone service, etc.
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Boy kills paramour
Hoshiarpur, February 28 SSP R. N. Dhoke said today that Simarjit Kaur, wife of Avtar Singh of Muradpur Narial, informed the Bulhowal police station that Jaswinder Singh, alias Jassi, alias Bura, son of Baldev Singh of the same village, had taken her husband on the pretext of some work at Tanda police station on January 28. At night her husband told her that he was going with Jaswinder Singh for some urgent work. Jaswinder Singh returned on January 30. However, Avtar Singh did not turn up. On this, she inquired about her husband from Jaswinder, who told her that due to excessive drinking both had got separated. She searched for her husband everywhere, but failed to find him. Then, she lodged a missing report of her husband with the police on February 6. Later, in her complaint she alleged that Jaswinder Singh along with his brother-in-law, Balwinder Singh, son of Bhajan Singh of Ramdaspur and his other accomplices, had abducted her husband with an intention to kill him. A case under sections 364, 365, 344 and 34 of the IPC was registered in this regard. The SSP said investigations revealed that Avtar Singh had illicit relationship with his neighbour Jaswinder Singh's mother Amarjit Kaur. Baldev Singh, father of Jawinder Singh, died five years ago. When Jaswinder came to know about his mother’s illicit relationship he hatched a conspiracy to kill Avtar Singh. He along with his accomplice, Taranjit Singh, son of Jarnail Singh of Bhullana, took Avtar Singh to Tanda and then to Garhdiwala. They forced him to consume excessive liquor and later killed him with a sharp-edged weapon. After killing him they buried his body in the nearby fields of Muradpur Narial. The SSP said Jaswinder Singh was arrested today. During interrogation, he confessed killing Avtar Singh. The body was exhumed in the presence of a duty magistrate and a medical officer. Taranjit Singh was likely to be arrested shortly, the SSP added.
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Train collides with tractor, 3 hurt
Barnala, February 28 A large number of people from nearby locality and railway employees were seen unloading bricks from the tractor-trailer that had got stuck on the track. Three injured persons were rushed to the local civil hospital for treatment. Teja Singh Atta said that five persons (three on the tractor and two on the trailer loaded with bricks) were trying to cross the unmanned level crossing when the train was coming from the Bathinda side. The tractor-trailer’s driver first stopped the vehicle. On seeing the train at some distance he tried to cross but the vehicle got stuck on the track and the train collided with it. The train dragged the tractor-trailer to some distance before stopping. Barnala railway station’s superintendent Manohar Lal rushed to the accident site. The Bathinda-Barnala-Dhuri rail track was opened for traffic after about two hours.
— OC
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Ranbaxy selects eight students
Fatehgarh Sahib,
February 28 There was unprecedented rush and enthusiasm among the students of various reputed institutes of the region, who had come in large number for campus placement. A high-profile team of Ranbaxy, comprising Sanjay Joshi, Senior Manager, HR; K.S. Kalra, Regional Manager and Rakesh Ganjoo, Regional Manager, Sales, conducted the selection process. More than 300 students appeared for the selection process and there was tough contest among the students. The phrama giant picked up the eight best students. These students have been offered a package of Rs. 2.26 lakhs plus mobile expenses and vehicle loan. Hukam Chand Bansal, Chairman, RIMT, congratulated the selected students and said that more big companies were
coming to RIMT, a leading institute of the state for campus placement.
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44 get campus placement
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 28 The company issued offer letters on the spot. The package offered was Rs 2,61,500 per annum. Mr Kirpal Singh Libra, member-secretary of the college, congratulated the students and the placement cell for their excellent performance.
— OC
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