‘People have voted for development; confident about victory’: Pawan Kumar Bansal

Chandigarh, April, 2014:

As the fate of all contesting candidates was sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) here today, the Congress candidate, Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal said he had trust in the electorate and was confident about his victory with a huge margin of votes. Mr. Bansal soon after casting his vote in Sector 28 Government Model Senior Secondary School said people had voted for development and not outsiders, terming ‘Modi Wave’ a farce.

Mr. Bansal’s along with his close family members started their day by visiting the Sai temple in Sector 29 here. There was activity at his Sector 28 residence since early morning as Mr. Bansal was expected to vote around 9 am.

Media had turned up in large numbers both at his residence and the Sector 28 government school as Mr. Bansal was the only candidate among the prominent candidates who has his vote in Chandigarh while the closes rivals BJP and AAP candidates are both outsiders.

He along with his wife, Madhu Bansal, sons Amit and Manish Bansal besides Mr. Pawan Bansal’s elder sister and brother-in-law reached the polling station at around 930 am where the electronic and print media had an interaction with him.

Mr. Bansal when asked how he felt, he said he was confident about his victory and was aware of the sentiment of people who voted for development. When asked how he felt about him contesting against two actresses, he said voters want their representative to be aware of which are areas and issues of city are not willing to vote for someone who doesn’t belong to the city and is unaware of what are the problems.

“Everything is in front of their eyes and no one can deny the progress made in the last 15 years”, he added. Mr. Bansal said there was no ‘Modi Wave’ as was being claimed by BJP, which had nothing else to talk about and had hence spent crores on just branding and making him a hero through campaigns while the people of this country had full faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.

‘Chandigarh votes secured for performer Pawan Kumar Bansal’: Congress

Chandigarh, April, 2014:

A day before the city goes for Lok Sabha polls, local unit of Congress is confident that its candidate Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal will win with a huge margin. A press statement issued by Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC) president Mr. B.B. Bahl and party spokesperson, Pardeep Chhabra said Chandigarh people are aware of what Mr. Bansal has done for the city adding that candidates fielded by BJP and AAP were outsiders and in no way would even come close to the number of votes Mr. Bansal would fetch.

In a statement the leaders said while Mr. Bansal has performed in the field of education he would bring IIM and IIT to Chandigarh and would establish multi-institutional EduCity at Sarangpur institutional area. Mr. Bansal has also assured coming up with a planetarium in city.

It is during Mr. Bansal’s tenure that Panjab University got a sanction of Rs 750 crore in the last 5 years for institutes in science and technology, renovation of university houses, and construction of houses of teaching and non-teaching employees, besides moot court, department of laws, renovation of AC Joshi Library and hockey astroturf besides partial financing of indoor shooting range, four new hostels and technical approval of Rs 70 crore by Ministry of Science and Technology.Rs 1 crore was sanctioned under MPLADs for setting up Chandigarh Innovation Cluster (CRIKC).

In health sector several new projects got through like new blocks at GMCH 32, 50-bed hospital in sector 45, four new dispensaries in southern sectors, upgrading of polyclinic in sector 22, 300-bed trauma centre in sector 53, expansion of sector 16 GMSH besides several other projects. Funds amounting to Rs 835 crores were sanctioned in 10th and 11th Five Year Plans for modernization of operation theatres at PGI. Mr. Bansal has assured to bring pay parity between employees of PGI and All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The city was adjudged as the first in sanitation by Ministry of Urban Development during Mr. Bansal’s tenure said the leaders. Mr. Bansal has assured he would take up issue of increase in FAR for SCO’s and SCF’s to permit three complete storeys.

As regards industrial area, Mr. Bansal has said he would ensure to take up all enterprises to operate in industrial area and greater covered area in industrial plots besides cutting down penalty for misuse. The Congress leaders said 10 new trains were introduced in just one year and 30 trains now connect to city linking it to over 100 cities including important business, tourist and pilgrimage cities. Upgradation of railway station is already underway to make it one of the world class stations.

Mr. Bansal would also work towards setting up an international convention centre, while keeping in mind community services, he would take up the issue of concessional land rates for social and religious societies. He would also work towards several plans for the ex-servicemen community and senior citizens, by opening new old age homes and 24 hour helpline for them. He would also work on permitting planned construction in periphery on the lines of Punjab and Haryana.

The leaders said if elected to power he would resolve the issue of making daily wagers permanent, which has been a long pending demand of the employees. They also said he would ensure regularization of need-based changes in the houses constructed by the Chandigarh Housing Board.

Mr. Bansal would take up an important demand for providing shelters to the homeless employees of Chandigarh administration once elected. Mr. Bansal would facilitate a project to have a big market in place of the Colony 5 which was removed some months back. He said when voted to power he would ensure such a project comes as it would encourage self-employment.

Pawan Kumar Bansal promises to take up issues pertaining to employees.

Chandigarh, April:

"Any organisation, may be government, cannot survive if it is not profitable and I will take all efforts to ensure that steps are taken to make the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) profitable."

This was stated by congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal while addressing the members of Chandigarh Government Transport Workers Union.

Bansal said that he would try to get more buses inducted in CTU so that more and more long routes buses may be started and resultantly profitability is increased. He also assured the employees to take up their issues with the administration for an early resolution of those issues, particularly pertaining to appointment on compassionate grounds.

Pawan Kumar Bansal also said if elected to power he would resolve the issue of making daily wagers permanent, which has been a long pending demand of the employees.

He also said he would ensure regularisation of need-based changes in the houses constructed by the Chandigarh Housing Board. In almost 90 per cent of the 50,000 units in CHB colonies, additional construction has been made by the occupants. Thousands of notices have been issued by the CHB. The residents have been demanding that the changes be regularised as these were required in order to cater to their needs.

Bansal said UT employees had been protesting against Chandigarh administration for not considering their important demand for providing shelters to the homeless employees of Chandigarh administration under this scheme as per their commitments, and that he would take that up once he is elected.

Bansal said with the introduction of new trains to several cities of business interest, it would help the traders community. He said all penalties being faced by the community would be withdrawn when voted to power.

Speaking on the occasion, Pishora Singh, a retired CTU employee, said that presently the administration was taking steps to promote private buses entering Chandigarh. The interest of Chandigarh government employees needed to be safeguarded. In interest of the local employees, it was necessary to re-introduce the system of Chief Administrator of Chandigarh.

Senior congress leader Rampal Sharma, former Mayor, Ravinder Pal Singh, Chandigarh Government Transport Workers Union president, Mohar Singh and Raj Kumar also addressed the gathering.

During the day, a large number of residents of Bapu Dham colony took out a padyatra in the area to express their support to Bansal. Hundreds of residents of the area participating in the padyatra said that Bansal was a leader, easily accessible and always helped them, whereas tow other prominent candidates, Kirron Kher and Gul Panag were outsiders and were not able to win faith of the public.

Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal while addressing the general public said he would facilitate a project to have a big market in place of the Colony 5 which was removed some months back. He said when voted to power he would ensure such a project comes as it would encourage self-employment.

Youth Congress padyatra shows party strength.

Chandigarh, April

Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress today held a massive padyatra from Sector 17 plaza to Gandhi Samarak Bhawan. It was organised to show strength in the youth members supporting Congress candidate Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal.

The party workers had gathered at the plaza attired in special T-shirts having the photograph of Mr. Bansal on one side and a slogan in his support on the other side. The workers had started gathering in the sector since morning while the rally took off around 1 pm. Manish Bansal and Harmel Kesari led the rally which saw Bansal's supporters holding Congress flags.

There has been a lot of activity  in the youth wing of the Congress. Two days back in a function organised by NSUI a lot of workers from other parties had joined the Congress trusting the ideology of the party.

During Mr. Bansal's tenure, a lot has been happening for the welfare of the youth in city. Mr. Bansal through MPLAD Funds have been consistently allocating for the upradation of sports activities and other facilities in schools and colleges.

The coming up of the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) as the name suggests is a project initiated by the Congress, which created hundreds of job opportunities in Chandigarh.

Other leaders present at the padyatra were Anand Singh Kajheri, Deep Singh Behlana and Amit, besides others.

Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal during a public meeting in Sector 52 furniture market expressed concern over the need for a permanent market for those selling furniture, which could also house similar goods. He said Chandigarh needs such markets where people can go an buy their household goods. He even blamed the Chandigarh Administration officers for not thinking about the needs of the people, advocating the need for a permanent market. He added that administration wanted to remove them but because of his intervention it was stalled. Mr. Bansal expressed concern that there have been fires earlier in the market which further necessitated the need for having permanent shops.

'No property tax for ex-servicemen': Pawan Kumar Bansal

Chandigarh, April, 2014

Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal while addressing a public meeting in Sector 35 while speaking about the contribution made by ex-servicemen in the security of the country said a lot needs to be done for those who had spent their lives serving the nation. He said the municipal corporation of Chandigarh had already mulled the proposal to exempt ex-servicemen from property tax, which would be a major relief to them brought by the Congress regime.

Mr. Bansal also referred to the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme approved by the central government, which he said had been a long pending demand of those in defence services. OROP basically implies payment of uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement. Consequently, any further hike in pension rates is automatically passed on to past pensioners.

He said city has seen development all these years and has been connected to several religious places and those of business interest through trains. He said tourism potential of city will also be explored since it was becoming an important destination having been connected to several cities and with international flights soon taking off from here, it will soon be directly connected to cities abroad.

Mr. Bansal said ex-servicemen need to be taken care of and also stressed on the need for having a strong social security network for the senior citizens. He recalled the Congress manifesto highlights of Right to Health and Right to Home, which he said was a landmark decision of the government, which had also introduced the revolutionary Right to Information and Right to Education.

Among others present on the occasion were Madhu Bansal, Maj. D.S. Sandhu (retd.), Amarjeet Sethi and Principal Gurbachan Singh.

Addressing a rally in Manimajra Housing Complex, Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal said city has seen a lot of development and took on the BJP for blaming him for not bringing any project to city. He added this city doesn't need projects but development of the existing infrastructure.

Mr. Bansal also spoke about the Manimajra hospital upgradation and on the overall health services in Chandigarh.

Amrit Dhingra, president of Residents Welfare Association said Mr. Bansal works with and for all sections of the community.

Members of Pipliwala Town Residents Welfare Association, Modern Housing Complex, Senior Citizens Association, Mariwala Town and Shanti Nagar residents were there in support of Mr Bansal. Among those present were Ramesh Kumar Goyal of Pipliwala Town Residents Welfare Association, former mayor Surinder Singh,block president of Congress Mahipal Sharma, Satbir Aggarwal. Satbir Garg, Balkrishan Bansal, Urvashi Sharma, S.K. Kaushik and Ramesh Goyal.

Congress campaign at a new high; cycle rally lists achievements Agarwal Samaj announces support to Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Chandigarh, April, 2014

A cycle rally by the Congress Sewa Dal was a big hit as the workers of the Dal moved around the city to campaign for the party candidate Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal. The campaign also picked up momentum as the Agarwal Samaj extended full support to theCongress candidate.

The rally was flagged off from Congress Bhawan in Sector 35 and passed from different sectors including sectors 36, 37, 40, 41, 42, 56, 24, 23, and 22 besides other sectors.

The workers were appealing to the people to vote for Congress and also distributed campaign material listing achievements in favour of the party. Among those who were a part of the rally included Achhe Lal Gaur, Naresh Pal Gaur, Mehraj Bano, Avshesh, Altaf Ali, Latafaz Khan, M.P. Chauhan, Om Parkash, Mahesh Pasand among others.

A Padyatra was carried out in the morning in Dadumajra where Mr. Bansal also visited an eye operation camp. Eye operation camp had been organised by Guru Gobind Singh Sports Club.

In an interaction in Teachers Colony in sector 33, Mr Bansal got full support from the teachers for his development works and overall performance in city.  Radha Swami Satsang has extended support, informed Sanjeev Aggarwal and Davinder Babla as Mr. Bansal visited Radha Swami Satsang in sector 27 this morning.

Mr. Bansal also visited Sector 48 Universal Enclave and heard the issues of the society. The residents expressed full support to Mr. Bansal. Among prominent there included Harmel Kesari, Gurbax Rawat, Subhash Chawla, Devinder Babla, Arun, Meenakshi Chaudhary, B.S. Cheema, and Sunil Chopra among others.

A door to door campaign was also carried out in Burail by Mr. Bansal who got tremendous support there.

Among those present there were Jatinder Bhatia. Vijay Rana, Balwinder Singh and others. In sector 7 a campaign was carried out by Mr. Bansal in car bazaar.

The members of Agarwal Samaj have announced their support to congress candidate and sitting MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal in a function organized here on Sunday.

Various speakers of the organization during the address said that Bansal had worked for the city. The development taken place in city during his tenure was visible. The speakers said that Bansal was accessible and he or any member of his family could be easily contacted at their sector 28 residence. Whereas the residents would find it difficult to approach BJP candidate Kirron Kher or Aam Admi Party candidate Gul Panag.

Anand Singla, president of youth wing of Akhil Bhartiya Agarwal Samelan said that the infrastructure had improved and the connectivity through rail and air had improved in the city.

Balkrishan Bansal, President of Maharaja Agarsen Welfare Trust said that health facilities in government hospitals in city were best in the country. The city had ot PGI, best after All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, dispensaries in many sectors, GMCH, sector 32, GMSH, sector 16. Now the facilities in government hospital in Manimajra had been upgraded, Bansal said.

Addressing the gathering, Pawan Kumar Bansal assured that city would soon have international flights. Further, the educational facilities in the city would further improve, Bansal said. His wife, Madhu Bansal was also present on the occasion.

Prominent among those who were present included, Madhu Bansal, Gopal Saran Garg, General Secretary of All India Akhil Bhartiya Agarwal Samelan, Satpal Aggarwal, Kulbhushan Goel, Bal Krishan Aggarwal, Jagmohan Garg, Sajjan Jindal, Satpal Gupta, D.D.Jindal and president of Jain Samaj, Jaipal Jain, Tarsem Mittal, Chander Bhan Garg,

Prabhu Dyal Bagdi, Chairman of the SC Morcha of BSP joined the Congress party. He joined the party with hundreds of his supporters. Congress has the advantage over other parties as most of the senior leaders are joining the party as they have full faith in the party leadership and ideology.

‘Only MP Pawan Bansal can take city to international level’

Chandigarh, April, 2014:

Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said only Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal can take city to international level. Addressing a massive rally here in Sector 56 he also attacked the opposition parties saying their candidates were parachute candidates who don’t even know about the sectors, how would they know about the issues.

“Chandigarh’s name is associated with Pawan Bansal and today we have the best connectivity as far as trains are concerned and airport is also being upgraded and getting better connectivity. I would say this is the first smart city of India”, he said.

The chief minister said UPA government has given several rights to the people through its policies, most important of which were Right to Health and Home.

Mr. Hooda said he has a special bonding with Chandigarh as he has studied here, adding that it was only Pawan Bansal who knows about progress. He appealed to the people to vote for Mr. Bansal keeping in mind their future. Mr. Hooda was also presented a Saropa on the occasion. He also addressed a rally in Maloya.

Mr. Pawan Bansal while speaking on the occasion said Chandigarh has set an example as far as development is concerned and also slum rehabilitation, which promises homes to 60,000 people. He said the outsiders will not be able to meet any promises when most of the time they will be in Mumbai not concerned about the problems of people here.

Mr. B.B. Bahl while speaking on the occasion said Mr. Bansal had done what no one can do for the city and people can see the development and that is the reason why he has been elected four times as MP.

Poonam Sharma, Congress leader said Mr. Bansal is one person who has always thought about bringing in policies for the benefit of women. She appealed to the people to vote for Mr. Bansal if they want to see the city growing.

Darshan Garg, while speaking on the occasion said Mr. Bansal had worked for the welfare of people in colonies and slum rehabilitation was one example which is being considered as a landmark project.

Others who were present on the occasion included, Madhu Bansal, Rampal Sharma, Pardeep Chhabra, Devinder Babla, Harmel Kesari, H.S. Lucky, Gurbax Rawat, Bhupinder Badheri, Jeet Behlana, Kamlesh Chaudhary, Mohammad Sadiq Sheikh, Pardeep Bhardwaj, Nachattar Singh, Naved, Gurmeet Singh, Principal Gurbachan Singh, Ahmed Ali.

Anupam Kher son-in-law of BJP not city: Congress leaders.

Chandigarh, April, 2014:

Several senior leaders of Chandigarh Congress today took strong exception to the statement made by Anupam Kher wherein he called people of Chandigarh to serve him as he is the "Son-in-law of Chandigarh". The statement was issued by leaders including Subhash Chawla, Devinder Babla, H.S Lucky, Harmail Kesri, Sunil Chopra, Maninder Dhillon, Meenakshi Choudary, Acche Lal Gaur, Ajay Sharma, Chintan Bajaj, Vijay Rana.

The leaders said that he may be the son-in-law of BJP but not of the city. Even BJP leaders who now claim party candidate Kirron Kher to be their sister threw eggs on her and showed black flags to  her.  The leaders reminded him that his wife is contesting elections on BJP ticket and they should  contest elections on issues rather than emotional statements. They further advised him to desist from making emotional melodrama as citizens of Chandigarh are enlightened people and know everything.

They advised the BJP to stop from muddling otherwise they also have a lot to say about the personal life of BJP candidate which if revealed will pinch them hard.

BJP favours what it opposed once: Congress

Chandigarh, April

The local unit of Congress has taken a strong note of BJP which is now favouring a nuclear project, which it had opposed before.

CTCC president, Mr. B.B. Bahl in a statement said, "Does the election time permit our leaders to say anything that may be senseless but spoken just to befool the voters? This is what happened when the BJP leaders, earlier accusing sitting MP and congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal for lacking of development and not being able to bring not even a single big project to city, suddenly attacked him by stating the city could have a nuclear power plant but Bansal did not take initiative in this regard."

He said the statement was issued by none other than two-time MP, a designated senior advocate and National Legal Working Group of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Satya Pal Jain.

This was stated, not realizing that the same BJP had, in 2008 brought in a no confidence vote against congress led UPA government, opposing the nuclear energy.

Mr. Bansal in a public meeting said that the candidates had accused him for not taking up nuclear power project, the concept that was opposed by BJP in parliament. Further, these candidates had no idea that for a nuclear project what was the area requirement. It was not possible in Chandigarh, being a small city, Bansal said. The stand might have changed now but there are other factors, because of which such power plant is not viable in the city.

The nuclear power plant needs huge chunk of land, several hundred acres, away from populated area, which the city does not have.

The distance from the population is not only required to avoid and damage in case of accident, when it can cause damage for a long distance. Studies have shown that even in case of no accident, nuclear power reactors release radioactivity to the air and the water on an ongoing basis. Such releases contribute to radiation exposure to both near and far from the site. Every radiation exposure increases the risk of cancer. That is the reason that the nuclear power plants are set up at places that are far away and even then after compliance of very strict norms.

The BJP leaders need to understand that opposing the opponents on such weak issues, which they themselves are not acquainted with, puts them also in a disgraceful situation before the literate residents of the city.

Congress candidate Bansal launches mobile app for safety of women.

Chandigarh, April

The candidates of different parties have been using various means for campaigning, like door to door canvassing, holding rallies to attract voters and so is doing congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal. But on Wednesday, what Bansal did was a gesture to express his concern for safety of women.

Bansal today launched a mobile application, which will be used not only for canvassing but also later providing help to women, in some emergency situation. The app, I’M4 Pawan Bansal, which will be available in both Android and iOS allows one to feed up to five mobile numbers of people those could be useful in emergency. One, in case of any problem, can simply open the app and press a button, ‘click me’. The app will send the SoS message to the contacts, alongwith the exact location of the user. The other feature of the app is however, informing the user about the latest in congress and Bansal, the campaign and also inviting the user, if one wanted to be a volunteer.

Bansal launched the app in a special Women’s meet organized in sector 28. Speaking on the occasion, he said that he wanted the city to be safe for women and there should be zero tolerance for any crime against women.

The meet was attended by large number of women, including prominent professionals, housewives and different ages, mostly non political.

Reeta Jain, an associate professor in DAV College talked about various achievements of Bansal in the field of education, health and other infrastructure. The city has now over 30 trains and has got a proper airport, which was few years back just like a local bus stand.

Prominent theatre person from city, Rani Balbir Kaur not only talked about the development that had taken place in city during the past but also expressed surprise that Kirron Kher, an alumni of Panjab University, had chosen to be a candidate of a party that had Modi like leader. She said that she was amazed that other parties had not agenda than to criticize opponents.  The parties like BJP did not had any issue-based campaigning, Rani Balbir Kaur said.

Principal of MCM DAV College for Women, Puneet Bedi said that Bansal had been interacting with the students of the college, who always found him a very transparent and honest politician.

President of North Zone Deaf and Mute Society, Salochana Ahuja, Principal of Delhi Public School, Reema Diwan, Principal of DAV School, sector 15, Rakesh Sachdeva, Mandeep Kaur and several other prominent women were present on the occasion. A short film on Bansal’s achievements was also shown on the occasion.

Pawan Kumar Bansal assures licenses for all eligible vendors.

Chandigarh, April, 2014:

Congress candidate from city got a tremendous support at the vegetable market in Sector 26 who assured to vote for Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal because of his performance in the last 15years. Mr. Bansal assured all the vendors of being rehabilitated on merits under a central government scheme for footpath workers which had already been announced earlier.

While addressing a large public gathering in Sector 26 which had been organised by Small Vegetable Sellers Welfare Association, Mr. Bansal said it was now for the voters to decide their fate in the coming election by choosing the right candidate.

He said the city has grown a lot and has the best infrastructure now. “Since last 10 years the Congress has worked for the poor and the aam aadmi (common man) which was originally a Congress slogan and has been stolen by another party now.” He said the Congress will continue to work on that ideology.”

Mr. Bansal said Congress had taken some important steps like Right to Education (RTE) which is to ensure education for all. He said footpath workers who are above 18 years of age can apply under a new scheme of the party which allows them rehabilitation and the Congress manifesto last week had also announced two major policies which would ensure Right to Home and Right to Health for all.

Giving example of rehabilitation scheme in Chandigarh he said 45,000 had already been rehabilitated while in all 60,000 would be covered. He also stressed on taking advantage of skill development centres which can help in self-employment.

Mr. Bansal while coming down heavily on BJP said the party mastered one art of misleading people by repeating lies to make it look like truth. He said the so called Modi wave was only restricted to spending crores in branding him and not admitting the harsh realities of his own state which was in bad shape and only favouring the big corporates.

Among prominent people present were Digvijay Kapoor, president of the market association, Dinesh Mahajan, market committee chairman, Bhupinder Singh Badheri, former chairman, Bhim Sain, Subhash, Mohammad Sadiq, Naresh Aggarwal, Satparkash, D.D. Jindal, Ranjeet Singh Chauhan and former chairman Devinder Babla.

Mr. Bansal also carried out door to door campaign in sector 40 and 41 market. There he was welcomed by several Congress leaders and supporters. Among prominent present were councilor Gurbax Rawat, Rampal Sharma and others.

Bansal while addressing the members of PGI Contractual Employees Union said the BJP party is such a party, which has bundles of lies and their leaders keep on speaking the lies despite being pointed out on it.

Coming down heavily on BJP leaders, Bansal dared them to have a debate on the issue of development in the city. Bansal said that the development in PGI, Panjab University, railway station, airport and other infrastructure was not visible to these leaders.

Referring to the BJP prime minister candidate Narinder Modi, Bansal said he is the same Modi about whom, some time back, Uma Bharti had stated that instead of development, she had seen destruction in Gujrat. It was ironical that the party, whose poll management was being handled by an American firm and Modi’s designer attire, costing lakhs, was being designed by designers, talks about welfare of poor people, Bansal said.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, Chandigarh Mayor Harphool Kalyan said that BJP had only opposed the developmental agendas and that was witnessed during the meeting of municipal corporation and also parliament, where BJP did not allow running the house smoothly.

Bansal while addressing the members of PGI Contractual Employees Union said that he was not in favour of contractual employees being paid less wages than other employees. He said that he would take up the issue with the administration and ensure that contractual employees get basic and DA at par with the regular employees at the earliest. Bansal said this in response to a demand raised by Ashwani Munjal, the union president.

Congress gets strength with joining of BJP, BSP leaders.

Chandigarh, April, 2014:

Congress has got a boost with the joining of several BJP and BSP leaders, not only strengthening the election campaign but also the party, which would go a long way in winning the Lok Sabha elections with thumping majority.

In a public meeting held at Sector 37, former BJP Yuva Morcha general secretary Damy Grover and former BJP District Secretary Suparna Sharma along with hundreds of supporters joined the Congress.

In a major setback to the BSP, its party senior vice president, Ram Sumer Maurya, a former councillor and also the covering candidate of Jannat Jahan the BSP Lok Sabha candidate had yesterday joined the Congress. Other BSP leaders who joined the Congress along with Maurya were Mohan Lal, Prem Pal Chauhan, Jaswant and Avinash. It was only three days back prominent BSP leader Kunnu alias Jatinder Yadav along with his supporters had joined the Congress.

'Probe role of BJP leaders in MC Scam': Congress

Chandigarh, April, 2014

Chandigarh Congress today demanded probing the role of BJP leaders in the allotment of tender to a private firm for operation of public toilets. Senior party leaders have said the names of those involved in the scam should be revealed. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a preliminary inquiry into the allotment of 4.5 crore tender to a private firm for operation and maintenance of 86 public toilets in 2007.

Senior officials with the then municipal corporation, including former MC Chief engineer's name, has reportedly cropped up in the case. Some officials with the company allotted the tender Selvel Media Service Private Limited are also under scanner.

The statement was issued by senior partyleaders including Rampal Sharma, Subhash Chawla, DD Jindal, HC Kalyan, Pardeep Chhabra, Pawan Sharma, Ravinder Pali, Davinder Babla, Bhupinder Badheri,HS Lucky, Shashi Shankar Tiwari, Om Parkash Saini, Poonam Sharma, Davinder Lubana, Lalit Joshi, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Raj Bala Malik, and Kamlesh.

The leaders said the incident is of the time when it was the BJP led Municipal Corporation. They said it should be a thorough probe and names of all those involved should be disclosed and appropriate action should be taken against the guilty.

MP Pawan Kumar Bansal slams BJP leaders Tandon & Jain; threatens legal action.

Chandigarh, March , 2014:

Sitting Memberof Parliament and Congress candidate for the city Lok Sabha seat, Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal today slammed BJP leaders, former MP Satya Pal Jain and party president Sanjay Tandon saying  in their frustration the balance of mind of the two leaders who had been trying for party ticket seems to have taken a hit.

Reacting to baseless allegations made by BJP president in a press conference today, in which the party had released a ‘chargesheet’ against Bansal and the Congress party, Mr. Bansal also threatened legal action against the BJP leaders.

Referring to Jain and Tandon, Mr. Bansal said, “This is the result of ravings and rantings of frustrated people, particularly these two leaders who had been denied party ticket leading them to make wild, baseless, malicious and slanderous allegations for which I reserve a right for appropriate legal action.”

Mr. Bansal said, “I challenge these two BJP leaders that if they have a modicum of moral courage, they should move the court against me. In case any judicial court finds me guilty of corruption the punishment that may be meted to me should not be what is prescribed but stoning me to death in Sector 17 plaza.”

The Congress candidate warning the two leaders said, “I can’t let them play with my reputation so lightly and in ludicrous manner. This makes it clear that they can bring political discourse to shatters.”

Senior BJP leader among 40 other party leaders join Congress.

Chandigarh, March, 2014:

The local unit of BJP got a major setback today as its senior leader Maulana Mohammad Kasim former chairman of Minority Cell of BJP along with his 40 BJP workers joined the Congress. The leader has been with the BJP since last 15 years.

In a ceremony held at Rajiv Gandhi Congress Bhawan Sector 35 here this morning, the leader along with his supporters was welcomed by Congress candidate Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal and CTCC president, Mr. B.B. Bahl.

Soon after joining the party, Kasim said he was fed up of the BJP which has lost its earlier sheen and he had lost faith in BJP leadership. He said the Congress has worked for the city development and was proud to be a part of it today.

It was only yesterday that Local unit of BSP had got a jolt when its prominent leader Kunnu alias Jatinder Yadav along with his supporters joined the Congress. In a function at Sector 35 Rajiv Gandhi Congress Bhawan he joined the party along with hundreds of his supporters. Two BJP leaders Salememut and Ramlingam along with their supporters had also joined the Congress.

Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal while welcoming the leader said it was a moment of pride for the Congress to welcome such a senior leader and his joining would further strengthen the party.

Meanwhile in the morning a Padyatra was taken out in Palsora colony where Mr. Bansal was welcomed by residents. The Congress supporters listed the achievements of the UPA government and said the city has emerged as an important destination internationally only because of efforts made by Mr. Bansal. Among prominent leaders present with him were Surinder Singh, Harmel Kesari, Om Parkash Saini and Chitranjan Chanchal.