Jai Ram confident of sweeping victory in Himachal bypolls
With the bypolls being seen as a precursor to the assembly elections, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday predicted that the BJP will retain the prestigious Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, and also win the three assembly segments – Arki, Fatehpur and Jubbal-Kotkhai.
Addressing an election rally at Karsog of Mandi district, Thakur said the grand old party had been decimated and only its name remained. Boasting of BJP candidate Brigadier Khushal Thakur’s military contributions, he said, “If we are able to sleep peacefully at our homes, it is only because of our soldiers guarding the border.”
On the hot button issue of inflation, the chief minister said it was a global phenomenon that had been caused due to the pandemic. “People must understand that inflation is a global phenomenon due to Covid, and eventually the situation will ease out. During the Congress regime, there was no pandemic, and yet inflation was on all-time high.”
He also took a dig at the alleged scams under the Congress regime. “I am confident that like 2014 and 2019, we will again win the Mandi seat with an even bigger margin,” he said.
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2 Gogi gang members nabbed, 2 guns seized
Deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Brijendra Kumar Yadav said that both the detained “sharpshooters” are minors. Yadav said, during questioning the two juvenile delinquents told the police that they were asked to avenge the killing of one Brahm Prakash, father of Kallu Khera alias Kapil who is a member of the Gogi gang. They said Prakash was killed on May 7 allegedly by members of Bawana’s gang, and senior members of their group told them to kill latter’s father.
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Protests erupt in Srinagar’s Maisuma
Clashes erupted between supporters of Yasin Malik and security forces in Srinagar on Wednesday after a Delhi court sentenced the Kashmiri separatist leader to life imprisonment in a 2017 terror funding case. Protests against the court's verdict erupted in Maisuma – Malik's native place, a short distance from Lal Chowk – as his supporters and relatives arrived at his house and shouted slogans demanding his release.
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Himachal: Pratibha, Vikramaditya get bigger roles in PCC expansion
In the new team, the Shimla district, particularly Rohru and Jubbal and Kotkhai assembly segments, has got more share than the other 66 assembly segments. Of the 41 newly appointed secretaries, seven are from the Rohru assembly segment and they all owe allegiance to Mandi Lok Sabha member Pratibha Singh and her legislator son Vikramaditya Singh, while of the 13 general secretaries, five are from Shimla district alone. Former councillor Mahender Chauhan has also been appointed as vice-president.
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Can’t hold mini trial during bail plea: HC to Umar Khalid
A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar on Wednesday said that it will not hold a “mini-trial”, and look into the evidence and the statements without testing the authenticity of the material. “In so far as UAPA is concerned, we have to look at the material on the record without testing the veracity... You can’t say if the statement says three of them (accused) met, then we should test it by holding a mini-trial,” the bench said.
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Himachal’s tribal districts take lead in booster dose vaccination
In the other tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti, 64% eligible population has been administered the precautionary dose . Chamba has achieved 34% coverage and Kullu around 37%. In Himachal, more than 8 lakh people were eligible for the booster shot as on May 24. Since the launch of the booster dose drive in January, 3, 15,734 precautionary doses have been administered in the state which is 40% of eligible population.
