Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C.Khanduri today filed his nomination papers from Kotdwar Assembly segment for the forthcoming state Assembly elections at the district headquaters of Pauri Garhwal.
Khanduri, who reached Pauri, had to face heavy snowfall as the weather turned bad. The Chief Minister had to walk for 7 km as vehicles were unable to move on the slippery road, due to heavy snowfall.
Khanduri met a large number of supporters en route to Pauri town, where he filed his nomination papers.
UJM, UKD(D), UPP join hands
Dehradun, January 9
The Uttarakhand Jan Manch (UJM), the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (D) and the Uttarkhand Parivartan Party (UPP) have joined hands together. Luxman Singh Chufal, officiating president of the UKD(D), said their forum consisted of active social and political people and organisations who were committed for the cause of the state and would address the problems of the hill people.
The symbol, flag, name of the forum, office-bearers, minimum common programme (MCP) and election programmes will be decided by January 14.
Rajan Todriya, general secretary, UJM, said they were constantly in touch with rebel leaders of the BJP and the Congress who were likely to join their forum.
He said the way the number of disgruntled leaders were on the rise both in BJP and Congress, it seemed the internal democracy had died down in these parties and only the supremacy of the high command was ruling above everything.
Rajiv Kothari, spokesperson of the UPP, said their combined forum would give a stable altenative against the misrule of the BJP and the Congress and would not compromise on moral principles in its bid to usurp power. In the same vain, he said they would also not let an anti-people government to seize power in the state as well.
A committee under the chairmanship of Gandhian socialite Virender Penuli has been constituted which will have two members of each of the party and one each nominated member from BJP and Congress rebels in the committee which will formulate issues pertaining to the CMP.
The UPP was earlier a part of the the Uttarakhand United Regional Front and had broken away from it blaming the UKD (P) president Trivender Singh Panwar for his arrogance and dictatorship.
Janata Dal (United) to contest 20 seats
Haridwar, January 9
The Janata Dal (United) today announced the names of its candidates for 20 Assembly seats in the state.
The party is fielding candidates in an equal proportion in districts both in plain and hill areas. In previous elections the party was seen mainly confined to districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar in the plains and Gangotri,Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Lansdowne in the hill areas.The party has given ticket to three women, including a Muslim, from Laksar, Roorkee and Jhabreda seats.
State chief of the JD (U) Pramod Kumar Sharma told The Tribune that as the party had got a good response in the previous elections in the state, the party high command decided to field candidates from at least 20 seats.
He said the final list of candidates had been announced in consultation with party president Sharad Yadav.
Sharma said the party would take up local issues of unemployment, migration, a separate hill policy, peasants and other related issues in the elections.
Shiv Raj Singh, national general secretary of the party, said the party would focus on national issues such as inflation, Jan Lokpal Bill, Food Security Bill and corruption to expose the hidden pact between the Congress and the BJP.
Veteran Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister N.D.Tewari, who was sidelined by his party following the sex scandal expose in the Hyderbad Raj Bhawan in December 2009, has been able to pressurise the party high command to get the party ticket for his own favourites with active support and collaboration of party general secretary Birender Singh, much to the chagrin of genuine party men for the forthcoming Assembly poll.
Aryaendra Sharma, a personal assistant, and Manish Tewari, a nephew of Tewari, were given the party ticket by the party high command. Aryaendra Sharma will fight from Sahaspur Assembly segment in Dehradun while Manish Tewari will contest from Kashipur Assembly segment in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Interestingly, N.D.Tewari, a veteran Congress leader, played his cards well and with active support of party general secretary and in charge of party affairs of Uttarakhand Birender Singh, managed to pressurise the party high command to bend to his demand for party nominations for his own men.
Tewari, who was caught on camera with three women indulging in an immoral act as Governor of Andhra Pradesh, had to resign in December 2009. Falling from favour of Sonia Gandhi, Tewari had returned to Dehradun to occupy the official residence provided by the state government as former Chief Minister on FRI campus. He had been active socially and was participating in several programmes.
However, since Birender Singh, a Congress leader from Haryana became the general secretary in charge of Uttarakhand, the hopes of Tewari soared as he had been a close associate in the past. True to expectations, Birender Singh overnight turned Aryaendra Sharma into a political leader in white khadi from the tainted personal assistant of ageing Tewari.
Aryaendra Sharma started participating in Congress party meetings and programmes, which was resented by party leaders and workers. But none of the senior leaders dared challenge Birender Singh as state Congress chief Yashpal Arya, party MPs Satpal Maharaj and Vijay Bahuguna are known supporters of Tewari.
However, the party ticket to Tewari favourites was opposed by Union Minister of Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary affairs Harish Rawat, a strong political opponent of Tewari, who is also a front runner for the post of Chief Minister in case Congress wins the Assembly polls.
To scuttle the opposition by the Harish Rawat camp, Tewari announced that he would field candidates under Nirantar Vikas Samiti, a social organisation floated by him in all the 70 Assembly seats of the state.
Birender Singh, party in charge, and Satpal Maharaj immediately rushed to Tewari to pacify him and pressurised senior party leaders in the national Capital to give in to the demand of Tewari or otherwise he would damage party chances of coming to power.
So finally, after dithering on the decision, the party caved in to his demand and gave the party ticket to Aryaendra Sharma and Manish Tewari. Already another close of relative of Tewari, Navparbhat, a former Uttarakhand minister, had been given the party ticket from Vikasnagar seat in Dehradun district.
After the Congress announced the ticket of his favourites, Tewari wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi, expressing his allegiance with the Congress ideology since childhood and his faith in the Nehru-Gandhi family.
10 BJP supporters killed in accident
Pithoragarh, January 9
Ten BJP supporters of party candidate from Didhat Bishen Singh Chufal, who along with the later were on their way to file nomination papers, were killed while one was injured seriously when a boulder fell on their vehicle at Rangaun today. They were on their way to Kanalichina.
“ITBP, the Army and the police rescue teams have been deputed at the accident spot. Three bodies have been retrieved from under the debris, which fell on the jeep. The search for other passengers is on,” said Pithoragarh District Magistrate R Rajesh Kumar.
According to the information, the supporters of Chufal, who belonged to the Kanalichina area, most of the part of which has been included in the Didihat Assembly seat after the reorganisation of the Assembly seat, were going to Didihat to witness the nomination filing process of their leader.
As the jeep reached Rangaun, an entire portion of a hilltop from the left side suddenly fell on the jeep, killing three passengers on the spot. “The lone injured woman, Manju, has been referred to a Pithoragarh hospital by the rescue team and is being treated there,” said the DM.
According to district administration sources, the rescue team is facing difficulties due to bad weather conditions and lack of equipment with them.
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