Maluka for party tickets to people who served SAD for at least 5 yrs

PATIALA: Senior Akali leader and rural development and panchayat minister Sikander Singh Maluka is against SAD fielding people, including sportspersons, artists and singers who have not served the party for at least five years.

“I personally feel that the party should not give tickets to sportspersons, artistes or singers, as they are not much aware of the state politics and problems of the common people,” said Maluka.

Clarifying his opinion on allotment of assembly tickets, he said only those who have served the party for at least five years should be considered for the ticket.

He said artistes and sportspersons, who were being attracted towards political parties, were not politically sound and were also not able to address the problems of the people of Punjab.

Maluka, on Friday, also took a dig on the rebel leaders of the Akali-BJP alliance. He called suspended MLA Pargat Singh an untrained politician and Navjot Singh Sidhu an ‘opportunist’.

While targeting sportsperson-turned-politician Pargat Singh, Maluka said he should not have been allotted party’s ticket in last assembly elections as he was only a sportsperson and knew nothing about politics.

Calling Sidhu an opportunist, the cabinet minister said, “He wanted a cabinet minister rank in the Union government and after failing to get so, he changed his side.”

Maluka was here to attend a function organised under the Punjab State Rural Livelihoods Mission.

Meanwhile, the cabinet minister along with other Akali leaders issued revolving funds to as many as 104 self-help groups of Rajpura, Sanour and Patran blocks of the district. In the programme, seven self-help groups were also awarded community investment fund (CIF) of `40,000 each.

1/3 SHARE OF SHAMLAT LAND RESERVED ONLY FOR DALITS

When asked about the reserved shamlat (common village) land, Maluka said the reserved land only belonged to the dalits and it would be given to them only for agricultural purposes. “Only dalits are eligible to take the part in the auction for the one-third of the shamlat land but they should not be allowed to encroach the land for construction purposes,” said the minister.

He added that some of the leaders were trying to blow up the issue for their personal benefits.

It is pertinent to mention that the dalit-based organisations have been protesting from the last couple of years to get the rights of the reserved shamlat land.