Chandigarh Headlines

Sonia to go for stability plank
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today chose 8220;stability8221; as the single issue which would decide the outcome of the coming elections, 8220;warning8221; that a fourth election in four years before 2000 A.D. will have to be faced if the BJP-led coalition returned to power.

Planet position not to hit earth
A senior astrophysics scientist today ruled out any physical effect on earth by planet positions on Saturday claimed by certain astrologers, and dismissed suggestion of possible natural calamities on that day. quot;There is no reason to believe or suspect that planetary positions can have any physical effect on earthquot;, Prof Rajesh Kochhar of Indian Institute of astrophysics said here.

Punjab rolls back taxes
Punjab Government today rolled back the increase in various taxes announced earlier in the budget for 1999-2000. According to C L Bains, financial commissioner Taxation, the decrease had been necessitated in order to stop diversion of trade from Punjab to other states which had softer tax structure. While Punjab affected the increase as per the decision taken at the meetings of the finance ministers of all the states, others did not follow suit, hence the roll back.