22052024-TTB-01.qxd 5/22/2024 12:17 AM US ‘UNABLE’ TO HELP PROBE RAISI’S CHOPPER CRASH WORLD /thetribunechd Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 141 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 HARYANA CONTOURS OF THEATRE COMMANDS READY BACK PAGE wednesday | 22 may 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Had it not been for Ambedkar, Nehru wouldn’t have agreed to quota: Modi Tribune News Service PM ‘jhoothon ka sardar’: Kharge at Haryana rally New Delhi, May 21 With two phases left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday intensified his attack on the opposition Congress, firing salvos at late prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Invoking BR Ambedkar, the PM, speaking in Bihar’s Champaran, said Nehru would not have agreed to reservation had it not been for the Father of the Constitution. “Had Babasaheb Ambedkar not been there, Nehru would not have allowed reservation for the SCs and STs. He wrote to the chief ministers of the time oppos- yamunanagar, May 21 Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi jhoothon ka sardar and accused him of lying about Congress’ manifesto to mislead the public. Addressing a rally in Yamunanagar district, Kharge slammed Modi for saying that the Congress was planning to redistribute wealth and take away women’s mangalsutras. “If a PM says these things, then what should we say? Should such people be given votes again?... He is a jhoothon ka sardar,” he told the gathering. — TNS Says Cong mindset has been anti-reservation Aditi Tandon Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a public meeting in Maharajganj, Bihar, on Tuesday. PTI ing reservation. The Congress mindset has always been anti-reservation,” said the PM, countering the INDIA bloc charge that the BJP was looking for 400 plus seats in the Lok Sabha to “change the Constitution and scrap constitutional quotas”. Modi argued that reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs was safe only under the BJP-led NDA, and cited a letter Nehru wrote to the chief ministers of the time to oppose quotas. The PM sought votes in the name of the NDA government’s continued on page 9 Their ‘Delhi chalo’ nixed by BJP, farmers threaten to block Khattar’s entry into LS Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service Karnal, May 21 It’s farmers versus others in the villages of Karnal parliamentary constituency that is witnessing a direct contest between BJP candidate and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Divyanshu Budhiraja of the Congress. In an election where the battle lines are clearly drawn, the farmers, particularly Sikhs, are vociferous in their protests against Khattar and their disdain for the saffron party. On the surface, the Congress appears to be having the edge. But as one digs a bit deeper into the rural belts, the “silent” voter threatens to Haryana ex-CM banking on ‘silent’ rural voters Haryana’s Sheikhupura villagers discuss elections. PHOTO: VICKY alter the poll arithmetic. In Sheikhupura, sitting in the shade of the largest tree of the village, a group of farmers is playing cards. Asked if Khattar visited them to seek votes, they sharply retort, allowing Tehal Singh Virk to speak for all: “The BJP and their candidate can’t enter this village. He’s responsible for all the deaths that occurred during the farm agitation. We won’t let him set foot on our soil.” The former CM was bound to be rejected en masse by farmers, they speak in unison. “Though the government has faltered in ensuring development, creating basic facilities and providing jobs, these issues could have been ignored had the BJP supported us (during the protest),” asserts Sahab Singh. Most of the families here have migrated from Sheikhupura in Pakistan, choosing to keep alive their continued on page 9 Former WFI chief pleads not guilty NEW DELHI: BJP MP and WFI ex-chief Brij Bhushan Singh pleaded not guilty to the charges of sexual harassment framed against him in a criminal case filed by five women wrestlers on Tuesday. Earlier this month, a local court had framed the charges against him. BACK PAGE Virbhadra-Sukh Ram rivalry lives on as sons spar in Mandi Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Viresh Kumar Bhawra, ex-DGP Was pressured to carry out illegal acts: Former Punjab DGPmoves HC Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 21 Punjab’s former DGP Viresh Kumar Bhawra today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court claiming that he was asked to participate in “illegal acts, which included, but were not limited to”, registration of cases against public figures. In his petition placed before the Division Bench of Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Deepak Manchanda, Bhawra added he was also pressurised to relinquish the charge of the DGP’s post after the present government took over in March 2022. Bhawra, among other things, has challenged his removal from the DGP’s post under “the garb of transfer in total contravention of law settled by the Supreme Court”. Taking up the matter, the Bench fixed the case for further hearing on July 4 after the summer break’s conclusion. The petition, filed through counsel Bikramjit Singh Patwalia and Sukhmani T Patwalia, was argued before the Bench by senior advocate DS Patwalia. continued on page 9 Shimla, May 21 The political rivalry between erstwhile Congress stalwarts of Himachal politics — sixtime Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram — lives as their sons slug it out in the Mandi Lok Sabha battlefield. The political rivalry goes back to 1993 when Sukh Ram, despite having the backing of the party high command and then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, failed to become the Chief Minister as the “Raja” enjoyed the support of the majority MLAs. Sukh Ram went on to form his own party after being expelled by the Congress over the 1996 telecom scam. In the 1998 Assembly polls, however, Pandit-ji, as Sukh Ram was popularly known, took his sweet revenge when he prevented Virbhadra Singh from becoming the CM again. Congress’ Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of three-term MP Virbhadra Singh, is now up against BJP’s Kangana Ranaut, both of whom have been locked in a war of words lately. Sukh Ram’s son Anil Sharma, the sitting BJP legislator from Mandi (Urban), has upped the ante by hitting out at not just Vikramaditya but also Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a threeterm MP from Mandi and the state Congress president. “It’s a do or die battle with the Virbhadra family, with Former CM Virbhadra Singh and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh with ex-Union Minister Sukh Ram and his MLA-son Anil Sharma. FILE whom we have had decades old political rivalry. Virbhadra always created hurdles in the development of Mandi, which remained my father’s top priority. People have realised this and once and for all, they will seal their political fate,” he asserts. Sukh Ram’s grandson, Ashray Sharma, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Mandi on the Congress ticket, too is leaving no stone unturned to target Vikramaditya and his family. “Both mother and son have never lost out on the opportunity of hitting out at their own government. Their politics is only guided by self-motive and personal gains, and Mandi is nothing more than a centre of political tourismforthem,”claimsAshray. After being ousted from the Congress, Sukh Ram had floated the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), which won five seats in the 1998 Assembly polls. To prevent the Congress, which got 30 seats, from forming the government, the HVC lent support to the BJP having 32 seats. The BJP-HVC alliance formed the government with support of Independent MLA Ramesh Dhawala. It’s a different matter that Ashray himself parted ways with the BJP to join the Congress after being denied the ticket from the Mandi LS seat in 2019. The Congress fielded him, but he lost to BJP’s Ram Swaroop. Now he is back in the saffron fold. Virbhadra Singh, who won nine Assembly and five Lok Sabha elections, passed away on July 8, 2021, at 87, while Sukh Ram died on May 11, 2022, at 94 years. c m y b Starving, can’t step out: Indian pupils’ SOS from Bishkek Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service Gurugram, May 21 “For the past three days, I have been surviving on tea and cucumbers. Nothing is normal here. We have been ‘locked inside’ since May 17. Many students like me don’t cook and eat from outside. They are starving now. On May 19, I tried getting some food from KFC. Local guys standing there chased me and hit me. I haven’t stepped out since then,” says Waquar, a sixth-year medical student in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. “I can’t order online as delivery boys take money from local gangs and disclose our locations. I want to go home but the landlord refuses to let me go till I give her rent for the next three months. Our parents are arranging air tickets for us, but the problem is how do we get to the airport,” he says. While sharing his ordeal with The Tribune on a WhatsApp call, Waquar is startled by a thud on his door. Scared, he peeps through the door only to find a kind Russian neighbour giving him bananas. This is not a one odd case as an estimated 10,000 Indian students in Bishkek, including over 2,000 from Punjab and Haryana, are in panic and confined to their homes due to mob violence. The students claim they have been getting 2,000 STUDENTS FROM PUNJAB, HARYANA STUCK ■ An estimated 10,000 Indian students in Bishkek, including over 2,000 from Punjab and Haryana, are in panic and confined to their homes following mob violence ■ The students claim they have been getting warnings from their colleges and “student contractors” to stay quiet and not share their ordeal on the social media REMAIN VIGILANT: MEA The Indian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday posted on X that the situation in Bishkek was ‘normal’. It said, “The situation continues to remain normal. Students are, however, advised to remain vigilant and follow the guidelines laid down by the authorities in Kyrgyz Republic.” warnings from their colleges and “student contractors” to stay quiet and not share anything on the social media as it will impact the influx of new students from India in the next admission season, which is just a month away. While the mob violence on roads has subsided, Indian students claim they are targeted whenever they step out. Fearing an attack, many landlords are forcing them to shift while others are trying continued on page 9 Delhi HC dismisses Sisodia’s bail pleas Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 21 Holding that the possibility of evidence-tampering by him could not be ruled out, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed bail pleas of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in corruption and money laundering cases lodged by the CBI and the ED in connection with the excise policy case. “This court is of the opinion that petitioner has not been able to continued on page 9 SC JUNKS PLEAS SEEKING ART 370 VERDICT REVIEW The SC has dismissed petitions seeking a review of its December 11, 2023, historic verdict upholding the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to the erstwhile state of J&K.
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
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