KEEPING TABS ON POWER POLITICS IN PUNJAB, HARYANA, HIMACHAL PRADESH AND JAMMU & KASHMIR
KANGAR’S SUPPORTERS LEFT DEJECTED
With his son Harmanbir Singh in the race for the post of chairman of The Bathinda Central Cooperative Bank, revenue minister Gurpreet Singh
Kangar’s supporters who were sure of his victory had done preparations on the day of the meeting of the board of directors last week to celebrate. Harmanbir is one of nine elected directors all of whom belong to the ruling Congress. The minister’s supporters had gathered in large numbers outside the bank building with bouquets and sweets were also kept ready, but they were dejected when the election got postponed. The Congress faction opposing Harmanbir took credit for it. Congress leader Tehal Singh Sandhu, who is also eyeing the chairman’s post, claimed that arrangements to celebrate Harmanbir’s election as chairman were made at the house of a party leader in the city.
THE LEAGUE OF DISGRUNTLED LEADERS
Navjot Singh Sidhu, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Sukhpal Singh Khaira have more than one thing in common. All three are disgruntled leaders of the three major parties. They were also not seen at the two-day special session of the state assembly held here last week to ratify the 126th Constitutional Amendment to extend the reservation given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10 years. After quitting the state cabinet over his differences with chief minister Amarinder Singh, Sidhu has not been seen much in public or on political platforms. Khaira, who rebelled against the AAP leadership and set up Punjab Ekta Party (PEP), has also lying low since his poor showing in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Dhindsa, the latest Akali to turn disgruntled, also did not attend the session. Not that they were missed by the leadership of their parties.
THE TEST OF PATIENCE
It was a test of patience for revenue minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar on the second day of special session of the Punjab assembly when Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan alleged that mal mantri (revenue ministers) build kothis but the working in the (revenue) department does not improve. The AAP legislator was speaking on the goods and services tax (amendment) bill. Though the treasury benches objected, Sandhwan was not willing to take back his words. All eyes were on the minister, but he sat composed and did not utter a word even though there were some who kept telling him to react.
WHEN SGPC WAS LEFT IN A FIX
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, was sent into a tizzy over two issues last week. The first one was Punjabi television channel PTC’s claim of exclusive rights to broadcast hukamnamas (edict from gurbani) from Golden Temple. Before the channel retracted following a backlash, the SGPC faced flak but it did not utter a single word. The TV channel is reportedly owned by the Badal family which is at the helm of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The gurdwara body was also in a fix over the vandalisation of the statues of folk dancers on Heritage Street near Golden Temple which were raised by previous SAD-BJP government. The SPGC remained silent on the matter.
SUKHBIR & HIS POUCH
A ‘thaili’ (pouch) presented to SAD president Sukhbir Singh
Badal by senior Akali activists became a talking point at an event organised to mark Maghi Mela at Muktsar. Before he started his address at a resort, he was given the pouch as a mark of respect. An announcement was also made, but the organisers did not say anything about what was in it. Those at the event kept speculating if there was some valuable, lucky charm or a religious souvenir in the nicely packed gift to the party pardhan.
BHUNDAR’S FAUX PAS
Rajya Sabha member and senior Akali (SAD) leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar is known for making controversial remarks and then apologising for the same later on. After addressing SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal as ‘Badshah Darvesh’, a term used in Sikh religion to address tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh, two years ago, Bhundar made another controversial utterance while addressing the party conference at Mela Maghi at Muktsar last week. Praising the Badal family, he said that a forefather of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal beheaded Baba Banda Singh Bahadar. Though he realised the faux pas and quickly apologised, it left all those, including Sukhbir, embarrassed.
BOUNCERS AT TOLL PLAZA
At the Laddowal toll plaza, located on the Ludhiana-Jalandhar NH-44 highway, the authorities have deployed bouncers to tackle the increasing number of scuffles. The toll authorities have previously witnessed incidents of vandalism as tempers run high owing to long queues and waiting period. “We hope the bouncers will be able to contain rowdy elements,” said a toll employee.
GANGSTER BIOPIC TRAILER CREATES BUZZ
Trailer of a biopic on slain gangster Sukha Kahlwan has created buzz on YouTube with over 1 million views in less than 24 hours. A 2.54-minute trailer of Punjabi movie “Shooter”, scheduled to be out on February 21, was released on Saturday evening, two days ahead of Kahlwan’s fifth death anniversary. In this trailer, a youth in his early 20s is seen hurling abuses and opening fire on people and police. Kahlwan was killed on January 21, 2015, by gangsters Vicky Gounder and Prema Lahoriya near Phagwara when cops were taking him back to the Nabha jail after a court hearing in Jalandhar. Gounder even filmed the act and danced around his body in front of cops and fled. Kahlwan was wanted in 40 criminal cases in Punjab, Haryana and neighboring states.
CAT ORDER ON PUNJAB DGP BECOMES TALKING POINT IN HRY
The recent order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) setting aside the appointment of Punjab director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta became a matter of animated discussion in Haryana police circles. Like in Punjab,
a 1986-batch Haryana IPS officer PR Deo who was overlooked by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) from being included in the panel of officers eligible for the selection of the DGP had filed a petition in Delhi high court seeking quashing of the recommendations. The petition is listed to come up for hearing on January 20. Deo who was DG, Vigilance Bureau, has been given inconsequential assignments after he approached the high court. Clearly, chief minister ML Khattar was piqued by Deo’s action to approach the court. While Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, in his reaction to Gupta’s unseating, said that the matter has to be sorted out between CAT, UPSC and the officer, many colleagues of Deo were left wondering why Haryana CM ML Khattar thought that Deo’s petition was against the state government.
VIJ BLOWS HOT AND COLD
Haryana home minister Anil Vij who is involved in a row with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar over the control of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) keeps blowing hot and cold. Downplaying the turn of events over the last two weeks, he said there was no dispute between him and the chief minister. However, he did not refrain from firing a fresh salvo when he indicated that some officers needed to be set right. “Kuch adhikariyon ko theek karna hain jo chilla rahe hain,’’ Vij said in an obvious reference to police and CID officers.
CM, SCOOTER RIDE & A SNAG
During his visit to Tattapani in Mandi on the occassion of ‘Makar Sankranti’,
Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur
decided to take a ‘water scooter ride’ at the Kol dam reservoir which is being promoted as the newest water sports centre in the state. The CM had to face embarrassment when the water scooter he was riding developed snag and he had to return from midway. He changed the water scooter and went for another ride. This time, his security staff got worried and kept screaming at the driver to slow down.
THAKUR VS THAKUR?
The rift between chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur was more than apparent during an event held to mark former speaker Rajiv Bindal’s crowning as the state unit chief of the BJP in Himachal Pradesh. Arriving at the stage, Anurag first greeted state party in-charge Mangal Pandey and then went on to hug Bindal, ignoring the CM who had extended his hand for a handshake. Jai Ram quietly retracted his hand as Anurag posed for photographs with Bindal.