REGIONALBUZZ
KEEPING TABS ON POWER POLITICS IN PUNJAB, HARYANA, HIMACHAL PRADESH AND JAMMU AND KASHMIR
FUELLING DISAGREEMENT
That Punjab chief minister
Captain Amarinder Singh and his local bodies minister
Navjot Singh
Sidhu are at odds on several government policies and issues is no secret. But there is now disagreement between Amarinder and his finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal over bringing petrol and diesel under the purview of the goods and services tax (GST). Manpreet last month urged the Centre to bring petroleum products under the GST to maintain uniformity in price across the country, whereas Amarinder, while speaking at the HT Leadership Summit 2018 on Saturday, wanted fuel to be kept out of the GST. The fund-crunched state government has one of the highest rates of value added tax (VAT) in the country and has been reluctant in the past to slash the tax to check rising petrol and diesel rates. With pressure mounting on the Congress government to do its bit after the Centre announced a relief of ₹2.5 per litre, the two leaders will meet in Chandigarh on Monday to take the call on the fuel price cut.
NEWFOUND BONHOMIE
A month after chief minister
Captain Amarinder Singh changed the head of special task force (STF) on drugs, the chemistry between the special unit and the state police has become a talking point. STF’s new head Mohd Mustafa is seen moving around with director general of police Suresh Arora and other officials in the state to hold meetings with the field staff. In the first round, Arora and Mustafa met officers in Amritsar range. DG, intelligence, Dinkar Gupta also welcomed Mustafa with a bouquet at the state intelligence wing’s headquarters when the latter went there to take charge last week. The bonhomie has come as a big relief for the chief minister who wasn’t happy with infighting among top cops of the state.
CONG’S TRUST DEFICIT
Asked to ensure success of the chief minister’s rally in Akali patriarch’s stronghold of Lambi on Sunday, Congress leaders went all out to show their presence. A video clip of former Muktsar MLA Karan Kaur Brar
went viral last week in which she was asking her supporters to record their videos before heading for the public meeting and after reaching the rally venue. They were told to send these videos to a WhatsApp number with clear instructions that their failure to do so will mean absence from the rally. Why this trust deficit?
SAD RUES GOVT ‘APATHY’
After Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s cavalcade was attacked, party spokesman Maheshinder Singh Grewal expressed concern over lack of political decorum. Recalling an incident that happened during the Akali government in 1999, Grewal, who came out in support of Sukhbir last week, said things have changed for worse. “There was a time when I moved out of the party and the government along with (Gurcharan Singh) Tohra Saab who had snapped ties with (Parkash Singh) Badal Saab. A few days later, my car was attacked in Ludhiana and Badal Saab called me to show concern and told police to take action,” he said before griping about total lack of concern in the ruling Congress after the former deputy CM’s convoy was attacked. He said no one from the Congress government cared to ask.
SHOLAY REPLAY IN AAP
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has become the butt of jokes due to its infighting. The latest jibe at the AAP factions came from Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar. “Arvind Kejriwal’s party reminds me of a funny scene from Sholay (one of most iconic films of Bollywood). In the film, a jailer (played by Asrani) directs half of his officers to go left and others to go to opposite side. He then tells the rest to follow him when there is none left behind him,” he told reporters in Jalandhar on Saturday. The AAP leaders, according to him, are also going in two different directions the same way.
FACTIONAL FEUD IN HARYANA CONG
The week-long Mahila Adhikar Yatra undertaken by the Haryana Mahila Congress across the state last week again brought out the ongoing factional feud in the party. As announced before its start, Mahila Congress national president Sushmita Dev, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, AICC media in-charge Randeep Surjewala, Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda and some MLAs attended the march on different occasions. But senior leaders such as Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, former Union minister Kumari Selja and Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhry were conspicuous for their absence. Selja and Choudhry are among the senior-most women politicians of the party in the state.
VIRBHADRA, SUKHU AT IT AGAIN
Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh is not afraid to speak his mind. When the Congress held a meeting at its state headquarters to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, the former CM, besides highlighting the Mahatma’s struggle, subtly deplored HP Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over the appointment of the state, district and block-level office-bearers. Sukhu, who was also sharing the dais with the ex-CM, said that Gandhi Jayanti was not the occasion to speak on party matters. “Mahatma Gandhi always advocated truth and I am also speaking truth that appointments were being made to facilitate a particular group owing allegiance to Sukhu,” Virbhadra replied without batting an eyelid.
BJP PLAYS EMOTIONAL CARD IN J&K
The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) BJP has banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sway to woo the voters in ongoing civic polls. Campaign vehicles can be seen doing rounds of the winter capital, playing his emotive poem from the 2014 elections. “Saugandh mujhe is mitti ki, mai desh nahi mitne doonga, mai desh nahi tootne doonga, mai desh nahi jhukne doonga” is how it goes. One will have to wait for the poll results to see whether it is working this time or not.