Security beefed up in HP for poll
CHAMBA, Sept 20 — With the pressure mounting over the Pakistan-backed ultras prowling around in the high altitude alpine regions of Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force (ITBP) has intensified its operations in Chamba district in view of the Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh scheduled for September 15.

Cong anti-Dalit, says Chandel
SHIMLA, Sept 20 — Mr Suresh Chandel, president of the state unit of the BJP, has accused the Congress Party of being anti-Dalit.

Terrorism result of weak govt : HPCC
CHAMBA, Sept 20 — Harsh Mahajan, Vice-President of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has said there is a wind of change in the attitude of voters in the state as they know that unstable governments at the Centre are the chief causes of economic, political and other problems.

Statement of ex-CM ridiculed
SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The BJP has ridiculed the statement of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Legislature Congress Party, that development had come to a standstill eversince the Dhumal government assumed office and asserted that in one year the coalition had surpassed the achievements of the previous Congress government.

Cong ignored roads maintenance: CM
SUNDERNAGAR, Sept 20 — Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee will take the country to the 21st century as the next Prime Minister of India. Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said this here while addressing a public meeting yesterday.

PM involved in scams: Virbhadra
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR Sept 20 — Mr Virbhadra Singh, a senior Congress leader and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, has dubbed the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, a person involved in many scams. The BJP slogan of scam-free government was a hoax, he said while addressing election meetings in favour of party nominee, Mr Ram Lal Thakur at Mahre, Bhareri, Kanjyan, Patiander and Nadaun kaswas of the district yesterday.

He said the telecom scam involving of Rs 50,000 crore and the sugar scam of Rs 900 crore had eroded the credibility of Mr Vajpayee. He asked the Centre to clarify its stand on both issues as the statements given by BJP leaders were not satisfactory. He said a party which was involved in scams had no locus standi to seek votes.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said the Himachal Pradesh Government led by Prof Dhumal was one of the weakest governments the state had seen since Independence. He said the Chief Minister had stooped too low and was making irresponsible and derogatory remarks against Mrs Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders.

The former Chief Minister blamed the BJP government for its failure to control the growing incidents of lawlessness and increasing unemployment. About 30 per cent youth had been added to the list of unemployed in the state during past 15 months.

The leader said it was the Congress which could deliver the goods to the people. He claimed that the Congress would sweep the elections this time and win all four Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Mr Virbhadra Singh gave a call to the people to rally behind the Congress and come out openly in favour of the party.

He said if the people voted for the BJP, the nation would be doomed.

Mr Kuldip Singh Pathania, Mr Manjeet Singh Dogra, Prof Narain Chand Prasher and Mrs Anita Verma, all ex MLAs and Mr Suresh Kumar, Hamirpur District Congress Committee chief also addressed the rallies.

Meanwhile, the BJP received a major jolt in the Bamsan Assembly segment of the district when 12 BJP activists, including gram panchayat pradhans and panches, left the BJP and joined the Congress in presence of Mr Virbhadra Singh.

Dhumal ready for public debate
From Our Correspondent

MANDI, Sept 20 — Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today accepted the challenge of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for holding a public debate on the performance of the 15-month BJP rule and the 12-year rule of Mr Virbhadra Singh.

"I invite Mr Virbhadra Singh to share a stage at Rajgarh in Solan district tomorrow or at Mandi the day after tomorrow for the debate", he declared at a public meeting at Pandoh, near here.

The Chief Minister said due respect would be given to the former Chief Minister and other Congress leaders at the meeting and unlike the episode when Mr Anil Sharma and Mr Mahinder Singh, the then MLAs, had been arrested at Mandi and Dharampur at public meetings of Mr Virbhadra Singh in 1998, the Congress story would not be repeated.

He alleged that inquiries had revealed that over 2,900 appointments were made by the Virbhadra Singh government flouting rules and regulations, besides violating the Employment Act.

He said work on Larji Hydel Project had virtually been abandoned and its machinery shifted to Ghanvi project in Shimla district. An allocation of Rs 50,000 had been provided in the budget. "We allocated Rs 90 crore in a year. Its traffic and diversion tunnels are complete and the dam work will be started in October , he said.

Prof Dhumal ridiculed the statement of Mr R.K. Dhavan that the BJP had joined hands with corrupt elements like Mr Sukh Ram. It was amusing that the same Dhavan had further added that if Mr Sukh Ram applied for entry in the Congress, it would be considered.

Prof Dhumal, who addressed a series of public meetings in the district in support of the BJP candidate, Mr Maheshwar Singh from the Mandi Parliamentary constituency, said the track record of Mr Vajpayee had impressed the common man and a pro-Vajpayee wave was sweeping across the country.

The Chief Minister claimed the Congress was facing a crisis and its disintegration had started. It had neither any programme nor any issue, he added.

Security beefed up in HP for poll
From our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Sept 20 — With the pressure mounting over the Pakistan-backed ultras prowling around in the high altitude alpine regions of Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force (ITBP) has intensified its operations in Chamba district in view of the Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh scheduled for September 15.

Mr H.S. Goraya, Commandant, 15th Battalion of the ITBP, said here today that the check-posts already set up on the hills had been revamped with improved communication network which was in constant touch with its first battalion camping on either side in Doda district.

Mr Goraya stated that a strict vigil was being kept and a joint combing operation of 15th Battalion and Ist Battalion of the ITBP along with other paramilitary forces had been launched on the borders of Chamba district.

He said Badri Ram of Ghared village in Bharmour tribal subdivision, Chamba district, was killed in an encounter in August in Barabatti forest, 30 km from the borders of Himachal Pradesh in Doda district. He was a Havildar of Ist Battalion, ITBP.

He said Badri Ram was killed by terrorists while he was spearheading the search operation launched by the ITBP to flush out terrorists from their hideouts.

Mr Goraya stated that since the ITBP had been assigned the task of carrying out anti-insurgency operations after the Kalaban-Satrundi carnages, the militants had come under immense pressue and were being forced to carry out their nefarious plans.

However, the possibilities of infiltration and strikes by militants could not be ruled out, Mr Goraya added.

Sonia falters

SHIMLA, Sept 20 (PTI) — Congress President Sonia Gandhi today faltered while announcing the names of the party candidates from Himachal Pradesh but later made amends.

Firstly she called the candidate from Shimla (Reserve) seat, Mr Gangu Ram, as Ganga Ram, sending the crowds into peals of laughter and later she announced Sat Pal Maharaj as the candidate from Kangra instead of Sat Mahajan.

She read the names of all four candidates at the end of the speech and corrected the name of Mr Gangu Ram.

The former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vidya Stokes was so excited that her voice choked while welcoming Mrs Gandhi.

Unmindful of the fact that Mrs Gandhi was leading the party a section of enthusiastic crowds continued raising slogans "desh ka neta kaisa ho, Virbhadra Singh jaisa ho", obviously referring to the former Chief Minister as national leader.

Cong anti-Dalit, says Chandel
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 20 — Mr Suresh Chandel, president of the state unit of the BJP, has accused the Congress Party of being anti-Dalit.

In a statement released to the Press here today, Mr Chandel said that in spite of the fact that hundreds of innocent people, majority of whom were Dalits, were butchered in various parts of Bihar, the Congress Party continued to support the Rabri government, he said that when butchering of Dalits did not stop, the party demanded that Rabri government should resign on its own since it had lost the moral right to continue in office. But when on the persistent demand of various political parties the Central Government decided to impose President's rule in Bihar, the Congress Party opposed the move and came to its rescue, he added.

Accusing the Congress Party of double standards, Mr Chandel said that while it had been demanding imposition of President's rule in other states where the BJP or its allies were in power, it was opposing the same in Bihar.

The BJP president and that when in January this year Australian Christian missionary Grahm Staines and his two children were burnt alive in Orissa, Mrs Sonia Gandhi immediately asked the Congress Chief Minister of the state, Mr J.B. Patnaik, to resign although an overwhelming majority of the Congress Legislature Party was against such a step. The Congress should explain why it was moved only by the inhuman killing of family of Christian missionary and not by the death of hundreds of innocent Dalits in Bihar.

Terrorism result of weak govt : HPCC
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Sept 20 — Harsh Mahajan, Vice-President of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has said there is a wind of change in the attitude of voters in the state as they know that unstable governments at the Centre are the chief causes of economic, political and other problems.

Talking to reporters here today, he said this time the voters were not going to support the BJP-led coalition government.

Mr Mahajan said people knew that coalition governments could hardly complete one-and-a-half-year of their tenure so how could an alliance of 24 parties run its government for more than a year.

He flayed the BJP and its allies for raising the baseless issue of Mrs Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin which was a humiliation of the Constitution. He stated that Mrs Gandhi got Indian citizenship under the provisions of the Constitution in which all citizens had been entitled equal rights.

Mr Mahajan alleged that terrorism was an outcome of a weak BJP-led coalition government at the Centre.

Statement of ex-CM ridiculed
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 20 — The BJP has ridiculed the statement of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Legislature Congress Party, that development had come to a standstill eversince the Dhumal government assumed office and asserted that in one year the coalition had surpassed the achievements of the previous Congress government.

Mr Kishori Lal, Mr J.P. Nadda and Mr Roop Singh Thakur, all ministers, in a statement, criticised Mr Virbhadra Singh for spreading canards while in power and doing the same even now. The former Chief Minister, it seemed, had not learnt any lessons from his experiences and had been making false statements to mislead people.

The Dhumal government had not only stepped up development, but had also settled long-pending disputes with the neighbouring states which the Congress had failed to do.

The ministers took exception to the statement of Mr Jagmeet Brar, vice-president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, that the government had failed to settle inter-state issues with Punjab and reminded him that disputes pertaining to the Shah Nehar project, the Thein dam and the Anandpur hydel channel were resolved amicably by Mr P.S. Badal and Mr Dhumal.

The credit for executing the incomplete works started in a hurry without any budgetary provision by the previous government also went to present government, they added.

Cong ignored roads maintenance: CM
From Our Correspondent

SUNDERNAGAR, Sept 20 — Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee will take the country to the 21st century as the next Prime Minister of India. Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, said this here while addressing a public meeting yesterday. Mr Maheshwar Singh, a candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, also addressed the election meeting along with other senior leaders.

Mr Dhumal said the present government had spent more than Rs 26 crore out of which Rs 14 crore had been spent in Sundernagar subdivision alone on roads in Mandi district, whereas the previous Congress government had spent Rs 8 crore in the four year tenure.

The Chief Minister further criticised the Congress for the policy on the proxy voting system of soldiers. On the Kargil issue he said it was a great success.

Regarding Mrs Sonia Gandhi, he said she left India during 1971 war and returned after the war was over.