Cong gears up to retain power in Punjab, U'khand

New Delhi, Jan 6: The Congress has begun the process ofshortlisting names of possible candidates as it goes all out to retainpower in Punjab and Uttarakhand, two of the three Congress-ruled Stateswhere Assembly polls will be held next month.

Polling is scheduled to be held in Punjab on February 13 and inUttarakhand on February 21 while in Manipur, which is also ruled by theCongress, elections are to be held on February 8,15 and 23.

In order to take stock of the preparations for the polls, theCongress high command yesterday held consulations separately with ChiefMinister of Punjab Amarinder Singh and of Uttarakhand N D Tiwari, alongwith their PCC chiefs at the AICC Headquarters.

During the meeting, the Chief Ministers apprised the partyleadership of the preliminary list of candidates likely to be fieldedfor the Assembly elections and acquainted it with the prospects of theparty in the two states. They also discussed the likely dates of visitsof Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minster Manmohan Singh toPunjab, ahead of the Assembly elections.

Among the other star camapigners during the elections are likelyto be the Chief Ministers of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu&Kashmir.

According to Punjab PCC Chief Shamsher Singh Dullo,the Congresswould announce the names of its candidates by January 10 or 11. As manyas 600 applications had been received till the last date of receivingapplications yesterday.

Those likely to contest the elections include Capt Singh, Mr Dullo, hiswife Harbans Kaur, Deputy Chief Minster Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, thePrime Minister' brother Surjit Singh Kohli, and Dr Manjit Kaur, thedaughter of late President Giani Zail Singh. Winnability of thecandidates is going to be the criteria for deciding the names ofcandidates for Punjab, according to party sources, who did not rule outthe possibility of some non-performing MLAs being denied the partyticket.

The fact that the Congress is putting up its candidates for allthe 117 Assembly constitutencies in Punjab indicates that it has notyet arrived at any poll alliance with any other party.

Although it faces the anti-incumbany factor, the Congress isbanking on the good performance of the Amarinder Singh government,especially during the last two years in the fields of infrastructureand in providing employment to local people in various schemes.

It is also hoping to capitalise on the divisisons in the main opposition Akali Dal.

The Congress High Command has decided not to project anybody asthe Chief Minsterial candidate in Punjab and Uttarkhand, but the pollcampaign would be conducted under the leadership of the present ChiefMinsters.

In Uttarakhand, the Congress will be putting up its candidates forall the 70 seats, according to AICC state incharge Moti Lal Vora, noelectoral understanding has been reached with any party so far.

The Pradesh Election Committee had been told to forward the namesof the candidates within a week for the process of shortlisting by theScreening Committee.

The party would contest the elections on the issue of development and employment to local people, Mr Vora said.

Even before the list of party candidates being finalised, campaigninghas virtually started with the Chief Minister and PCC Chief HarishRawat holding meetings together and separately and Mr Vora undertakingseveral visits to Uttarakhand to get a feedback of the party'sprospects in the State. Congress President Sonia Gandhi is likely tohold three election meetings at three different venues early nextmonth, but her programe was yet to be finalised.

In Manipur, the Congress, led by Chief Minster Ibobi Singh, islikely to find the going tough in the Assembly elections in view of thestrong resentment prevailing among the people of the state over theirdemand for repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act beingignored by the Government.

The Act empowers security force personnel, above a certain rank,to use force, including opening fire, without being questioned.

Many CRPF and BSF jawans have been accused of misusing thisprovision to rape women at gun point. There have also been cases ofwomen reportedly commiting suicide after being sexually assualted byjawans.

This has earned unpopularity for the State Government, though it,too, has urged the Centre to scrap the Act. Recently a woman from thestate, Irom Sharmila, sat on a hunger strike in the national capitalfor 50 days in protest against the misuse of the Act by jawans. She hadto be shifted to the AIIMS after her condition deteriorated.

The Chief Minister suffered a persoanl setback, when about 3000Congress workers from his Khangabok constituency -- led by a localparty leader -- joined the Manipur People's Party.

The party had so far received applications for party tickets from as many as 110 people.

UNI
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