UT poll result enthuses BJP supporters

BJP activists were elated after the victory of their party in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections. Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal said the victory was referendum on the demonetisation policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The results illustrate that the people are supporting the drive against black money. The results are also a reflection of what would be the fate of the Congress in the Assembly elections to be held in Himachal next year, he said.
Health Minister Kaul Singh said most of the people living in Chandigarh were from the elite class and demonetisation had not affected them much. People in rural areas of Himachal are suffering due to shortage of cash.

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Virbhadra hits out at Sukhu over HPCC appointments

Peeved over the appointment of state Congress secretaries without consulting the local MLAs and block level leaders, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said a majority of them were ambitious people with no mass base who will work against the party MLAs during elections.
Virbhadra today said he was neither opposed to the appointment of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu nor had he sought his removal.
The remarks, however, by the Chief Minister made it amply clear that he was completely unhappy with the manner in which non-entities were being appointed on party posts, ignoring the established party leadership. The Chief Minister also denied having written any letter to the Congress high command seeking Sukhu’s removal.
Interacting with media here today, he said he had never brought this to the notice of the high command but if asked he would give his honest opinion in the larger interest of the party.
“I would like to clarify that Sukhu did meet me yesterday but barring the issue of appointment of a state Congress secretary from Banjar, I did not have any other discussions with him” he said. He, however, said that the number of HPCC secretaries was over 100 and Sukhu was appointing any Tom, Dick and Harry who was his friend or supporter in the state body.
“Neither do I wish to become HPCC chief as I have remained elected president for four terms and nominated once, nor am I supporting anybody for the post but yes I want the party organisation to be more active and effective,” he said emphatically. He added that such appointments must be avoided and remedied in the interest of the party as these will only cause dissidence during the Assembly elections.
Virbhadra also said that despite repeated pleas, the HPCC had not provided the list with names and postal address of the state HPCC office-bearers so that they can be intimated about the policies and schemes of the government.
The Chief Minister also expressed his strong opposition to the creation of new Block Congress Committees (BCCs) in various districts like Kangra and Mandi on the plea that this would give rise to demand for creation of administrative districts which Himachal cannot afford.

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No place for false propaganda and witch hunting in politics: Virbhadra Singh

While addressing a public meeting at Parsa in Gram Panchayat Shekhal in Rohru tehsil of district Shimla Chief Minister  Virbhadra Singh said that he won’t get moved by the false propaganda of the opposition. He said that he became Chief Minister not because of mercy of former Chief Minister  PK Dhumal, but Congress Party came to power in the State in a democratic manner. He said that with full love and support the people of the State chose him as Chief Minister of the State for sixth time.

“Twice false cases were framed against me by BJP government and both time I came out clean and now the Compact Disc (CD) case filed in the court against me was turned down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court sending shock waves in the opposition camp”, he said. He said that though there existed difference of opinions with  Shanta Kumar but  Shanta Kumar was a man of principles. “Blaming me of unaccounted income by Dhumals was witch hunting and unfortunate, as I have nothing to hide and all I have has been inherited from my ancestors”, he said, adding the only way of saving BJP was by way of removing  Prem Kumar Dhumal from the party.

He said that he believes in visiting the people at their door-steps to better understand their problems and grievances and moreover he gets a chance to monitor the progress of development schemes and take action accordingly if the work was not being done.

He said that Rohru and its suburbs were well connected with roads and now the need of the hour was to mettle and maintain them and appreciated the efforts of PWD to complete the work of Rohru by-pass road in time bound manner.  He said that vegetable market which would be completed within a year or two, which would facilitate thousands of farmers and horticulturalists of the region.

He said that Rohru hospital was upgraded to 200 bed hospital and would cater to the needs of the people of the area.

Earlier Shimla Parliamentary Constituency Youth Congress President  Sanjay Thakur welcomed and honoured the Chief Minister and other distinguished guests on the occasion. He also placed demands of the area before the Chief Minister.

The rise of Narendra Modi

Unpretentiously and ruthlessly ambitious, vindictive, authoritarian, unpredictable and totally impervious to scruples - these are some of the epithets used by political rivals to describe Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Despite this, he is the darling of the masses, at least in Gujarat, where he was victorious for the third time in arow.

On Friday, the BJP waved the green flag to take him a step closer to becoming the darling of the nation.

In doing so, the party quashed the dreams of the man who laid the foundation of the party. L K Advani, Modi's political guru and godfather, who tried valiantly to delay the inevitable announcement, stood his ground even as the party and the RSS gave the final push to make way for Modi.

The party celebrated as if Modi has already become the prime minister. However, Modi symbolises divisiveness and infighting not only within the party, but also outside. If chief ministers like Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta and rivals like Shankarsinh Vaghela were forced to leave the party, party general secretary, Sanjay Joshi claims to be a victim of Modi's alleged vindictiveness.

One of the BJP's closest allies, the JD(U) has already parted ways with it and potential allies that have Muslim supporters are wary of him.

Despite a bevy of leaders such as Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, apart from LK Advani, at the Centre, Modi has forced his way to become the PM candidate.

The child who made tea for RSS men 

Narendra Modi in NCC during his childhood days

But for all the political brouhaha, Modi's ascent from someone who served tea at the Vadnagar station as a child, who cleaned up the Hedgewar Bhawan and made tea and snacks for senior RSS men, had been modest.

Modi formally joined the RSS after 1971. Reports claim that Modi had also gone underground during the Emergency undertaking risky jobs. His organisational and analytical skills saw him rise swiftly as an RSS pracharak. His first success came when he helped the BJP win the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections in 1986. Seniors noticed his organisational skills.

When Advani decided to embark on a yatra to Ayodhya, he handpicked Modi to help him organise the same. In fact, Modi was believed to be the brains behind the yatra.

When the BJP first tasted power in Gujarat in 1995, and Keshubhai Patel became its chief minister, Modi took charge of the anti-room of the chief minister. He was known as the "super chief-minister" and was believed to be running the administration and giving orders. This was not liked by Shankarsinh Vaghela, a man who along with Keshubhai was believed to have laid the foundation of the party in the state. The tussle for power saw Modi banished to Delhi and Suresh Mehta anointed as chief minister. As general secretary of the BJP, Modi helped the party win elections in Himachal Pradesh.

From Pariah to CM 

After a brief stint by Shankarsinh Vaghela and Dilip Parikh as CMs, Keshubhai Patel came back to power in 1998. By then, Modi had become a pariah for BJP in the state. All along, Modi was biding his time, sitting patiently in Delhi, building his pride and plotting his moves. The opportunity struck just when Keshubhai's political fortunes began to dip.

Despite having the support of 116 MLS, losses in the bye elections in parliamentary and assembly seats in the state were used as an excuse by Advani to anoint Modi as the chief minister in 2001. It had taken him five years to remove the tag of super chief minister and become the chief minister.

At a time when Modi's political career appeared to be drifting, opportunity once again placed itself in March 2002. Godhra and its aftermath gave the push that made Modi the Hindu Hriday samrat to become the man of the masses. His oratory skills won him many followers and his administrative skills and the image of being incorruptible soon spread across the country. This and the tag of a development man of Gujarat soon made Modi a national leader. But the taint of Godhra has remained with Modi. Despite several countries having been ready to forgive and forget, the reported excesses during the Godhra supported by the administration, a visa to USA remains an enigma for Modi.

No stranger to controversy 

Modi has been dogged by controversy. A string of fake encounters points towards involvement of political bosses of Gujarat. Several top leaders left the party and the killing of Haren Pandya, once was Modi's man, under mysterious circumstances after he allegedly deposed before the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal. of the political bosses, added to the controversies.

Modi had been openly named by father of Haren Pandya as being responsible for his killing, is also believed to behind the leak of a "fake" video of former party general secretary Sanjay Joshi in an inappropriate liaison with a woman. He is the man who is believed to have stalled the appointment of the Lokayukta in the state after allegations of corruption of thousands of crores. He is believed to be a man who does not forget. But he remains a man of the masses.

If elected, Modi will be the first PM to be born after 1947

Courtesy: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/news/india/The-rise-and-rise-of-Narendra-Modi/articleshow/22567485.cms

Narendra Modi's site: http://www.narendramodi.in/

Himachal to regularise services of 6,318 teachers

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Tuesday informed the state assembly that services of over 6,000 teachers recruited through parents and teachers association (PTA) in schools and colleges would be regularised systematically.

"The government will take back all the 6,318 PTA teachers who were removed from service for some reasons during the previous BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) regime," Virbhadra Singh said during question hour.

The chief minister said that in the next one-and-half years, when they will complete eight years of service, they would join on contract and after that, their services would be regularised. Earlier, the eight-month-old Congress government had announced it would bring the PTA teachers on contract after completion of eight years of continuous service since 2006. Singh said none of the PTA teachers would be affected by the conditions of educational classifications as per the Right to Education Act as they are qualified.

The chief minister said the BJP government had victimised the PTA teachers and had tried to crush their agitation. Raising the question, BJP member Jairam Thakur said the Congress had made big promises to the PTA teachers during the election time and had misused them by even making them polling agents. "Eight months have passed since the Congress took over reigns of the state, but the PTA teachers have not been regularised," he said. Another BJP member Randhir Sharma denied that the BJP government had victimised the PTA teachers.

SFI sweeps campus, NSUI takes districts

The Students Federation of India (SFI), the left-wing student body, swept all posts at the Himachal Pradesh University campus while the National Students Union of India (NSUI), an affiliate of the ruling Congress, improved its tally in the nearly 70 colleges in the districts in the Students Central Association (SCA) elections that were held on Saturday. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the BJP's student wing, retained its stranglehold in Hamirpur and Mandi districts. While the NSUI bagged 205 seats, the ABVP secured 163 while the SFI won in 20 seats.

Fruit growers’ protest on Aug 1

Fruit growers will stage demonstrations in the four major apple producing districts on August 1 against the failure of commission agents (arhtias) to pay the growers to clear the pending payments to farmers amounting to over Rs 15 crore for the last year.

The protest being jointly organised by the Himachal Kisan Sabha and the State Seb Utpadak Sangh will be held right down to block level in Shimla, Kinnaur, Kullu and Mandi districts. Their main grievance is that the government policies are being tailor-made for corporate sectors, which have been given various incentives to undertake marketing of farm produce and the interests of the growers are being neglected. 

Rakesh Singha, president of the sangh, said his organisation would publish the list all the commission agents who had failed to pay the growers if the outstanding amounts were not cleared by them with 12 per cent interest by August 7. The growers would boycott those whose name appeared in the list.

He also took an exception to the new practice introduced by the commission agents by paying 40 per cent less for the small size apple.

He said it was nothing but a ploy to exploit the growers. It was illegal as fruit was sold in the retail market by weight.

He also opposed the increase in the road tax from Rs 2 to Rs 5 per box at a time when the cost of production had gone up by 23 to 35 per cent and the prices had dwindled by 30 per cent.

The opening of marketing sector to private companies had only made the matters worse. It had not helped the cause of the growers at all. He alleged that the government had given up the plan to introduce universal packing carton of 20 kg capacity under pressure from commission agents who gained if more fruit was packed in the carton. The growers were packing up to 28 kg of fruit and the beneficiaries were the commission agents, he alleged.

Via: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130730/himachal.htm

Virbhadra Singh welcomed Ambika Soni

Shri Virbhadra Singh welcomed the AICC General Secretary and Incharge of Himachal Pradesh Congress Party Smt. Ambika Soni. He said that this was the second time when She was appointed incharge of the State and hoped that all party workers would benefit by her vast experience and guidance as she had rich knowledge of whole Himachal Pradesh. He also welcomed Secretary, AICC and Co-Incharge Smt. Geetashree Oraon. 

Chief Minister honoured them by presenting Himachali caps and shawls. 

AICC General Secretary and Incharge of Himachal Pradesh Congress Party Smt. Ambika Soni urged the partymen to fan out in the fields to tell common man about the benefits of the NFSO and dispel the false propaganda of the Opposition. She said that UPA Government under the guidance of UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan had launched various welfare schemes for the benefit of the people of the country especially vulnerable sections of the society. She said that MNREGA, RTE, RTI and now NFSO were started by the UPA Government to empower the common-man. 

Smt. Soni said that Himachal Pradesh was making rapid strides in development under the able leadership of Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh who had become Chief Minister of the State for sixth time. She said that Congress Party was committed towards upkeeping the high principles of democratic set up. She exhorted the congress workers to work unitedly for ensuring victory of all four Congress candidates from Himachal Pradesh in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. 

AICC Secretary and Co-incharge of Himachal Congress Party Smt. Geetashree Oraon lauded the Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh for starting subsidized ration scheme in the State during its previous tenure. She said that Congress Party had always safeguarded the interests of the people especially poor and down trodden. She urged the party workers to apprise the people about flagship programmes of the UPA Government at grass root level. 

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee President Shri Sukhvinder Singh Thakur said that under the dynamic leadership of AICC President Smt. Sonia Gandhi all the Congress leaders and workers of the State would strive hard to realize the vision and dreams of Smt. Sonia Gandhi to make India strong, united and growing in all fields and maintaining the dignity of all religions. He said that Pradesh Congress would immensely benefit from the rich experiences of Smt. Ambika Soni and Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh and other senior leaders. He said that all decisions and programmes of Congress party would be implemented in letter and spirit in the State. 

Irrigation and Public Health Minister Smt. Vidya Stokes, Health and Family Welfare Minister Shri Kaul Singh Thakur, MLA Shri Kuldeep Kumar, General Secretary HPCC Shri Harwardhan Chauhan, Chairman, State level Planning Development and 20 Point Programme Committee Shri Ram Lal Thakur, Chairman, Pollution Control Board Shri Kuldeep Singh Pathania, District and Block Congress Presidents also spoke on the occasion. 

Council of Ministers, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of various Boards and Corporations, MLAs, former MLAs, District and Block Congress Presidents, Presidents of all frontal organizations of Congress Party, members and office bearers of the party were present on the occasion. 

NFSO will ensure food security in the country-CM

Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh said that National Food Security Ordinance (NFSO) was a major step to ensure Food Security to the people of the country. Chief Minister was speaking at the second General House Meeting of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee at Rajiv Bhawan here today. 

Shri Virbhadra Singh said that Himachal Pradesh was the first State in the country who started subsidized ration in the State during his last tenure. He said that subsidized wheat flour, rice, three pulses, two litre edible oil and one kg. iodized salt per month were being provided to all the ration card holders in the State. He said that State Government would not only provide subsidized ration to BPL families but this facility would also be continued to APL families. 

Chief Minister said that the motto of present Congress Government is ‘Vikas, Vikas Aur Sampooran Vikas’ that was the reason people have full faith and confidence on the Government. He said that all round development was being ensured in the State without any discrimination. He said that all Chief Ministers of Congress Governments right from first Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Parmar have given preference to the balanced development of the State. 

Shri Virbhadra Singh said that blood donation camps would be organised at State, district and block level on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi on 20th August. He said that he had been in the politics for over 50 years and had opportunity to work with veteran Congress leaders of the country. He said that Congress candidate from Mandi parliamentary seat had won the bye-election by a huge margin and the credit goes to the coordinated efforts of all Congress workers and above all people of the constituency. He urged the Congress Workers to remain united and work wholehearted to ensure victory of congress candidates in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

कुन्नू में कार्यकर्ताओं ने संजय का किया स्वागत

संवाद सहयोगी, पद्धर : भाजयुमो के नवनिर्वाचित जिला महामंत्री संजय ठाकुर का कार्यकर्ताओं ने कुन्नू में गर्मजोशी से स्वागत किया। द्रंग भाजपा के अध्यक्ष मोहन सिंह ठाकुर भी स्वागत समारोह में शरीक हुए। संजय ठाकुर ने कहा कि भारतीय जनता पार्टी युवा मोर्चा द्वारा जो दायित्व उन्हे सौंपा गया है, उसका वह ईमानदारी से निर्वहन करेगे। उन्होंने अपनी ताजपोशी के लिए प्रदेश भाजपा अध्यक्ष सतपाल सती, पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री प्रेम कुमार धूमल, युवा मोर्चा के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष अनुराग ठाकुर, युवा मोर्चा के प्रदेश अध्यक्ष स



source: Jagran

Full Story at: http://www.jagran.com/himachal-pradesh/mandi-10342139.html