regionalbuzz
Keeping tabs on power politics in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and J&K
Dhaliwal special: Piping hot pakoras
Trust politicians to go to any length to draw the voters’ attention. Agriculture and farmers welfare minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who was in Gujarat last week to drum up support for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates in next month’s state assembly polls, on Wednesday uploaded a video on Twitter in which he can be seen frying samosas and pakoras during one of his campaign outings. “While campaigning in favour of AAP candidate Shri Shivlal Barsia Ji in Rajkot South assembly constituency of Gujarat, tried to gauge public mood by making samosa, pakoras and bhajias. This time, people have decided for Kejriwal government #Ekmokokejriwalne,” he posted in Gujarati with the video even as the AAP government is being hauled over the coals by the protesting farmers and opposition parties back home for being “non-serious” about farmers’ welfare. The agriculture department was also pulled up by chief secretary VK Janjua for falling short on efforts to check farm fires in the state.
Row as train tragedy accused ‘hugs’ Amritsar police chief
Days after inspector general (IG) Jaskaran Singh took over as the commissioner of police (CP) in Amritsar, Congress leader Sourabh Madaan alias Mithu, the prime accused in the Amritsar train tragedy case in which around 60 people had died in 2018, met him at his office. Madaan then shared their pictures with the new CP on his Facebook page, raising eyebrows. One of the pictures showed Singh and Madaan hugging each other.
Jojo lashes out at Warring pick
Within hours of the appointment of new district Congress presidents in Punjab on Saturday night, a sharp divide surfaced in the Bathinda Urban, the constituency of the former finance minister Manpreet Badal. Jaijeet Johal aka Jojo, brother-inlaw of Manpreet, who was overall in-charge of the ex-minister’s political activities, lashed out against the appointment of Rajan Garg as the new district chief of the party unit. Johal took to social media to term Garg’s appointment as unfortunate and against the wishes of the party workers. He claimed that Garg was rewarded for speaking against Manpreet as state Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring is also opposed to the former minister. Manpreet has been mum, though.
A raid that fails to surprise peddlers
Punjab Police was left red-faced after a police raid at two of the 48 identified drug hotspots in Ludhiana last week led to the recovery of just 12-gram heroin while another raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) the same day in another part of the city yielded a massive haul of 20 kg heroin. The police raid was led by director general of police Gaurav Yadav, and it so happened that peddlers apparently got alerted regarding the “surprise raid” as a huge posse of policemen was stationed for security arrangements for the top cop.
Sahney, a crooner
Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Singh Sahney has a keen interest in singing.
Recently, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, along with Hargun Kaur, sang a poem written by Shiv Kumar Batalvi, “Kuj rukh mainu putt lagdey... kuj rukh lagdey mavvan..(some trees are like sons, some trees are like mothers)”. Coinciding with the start of the paddy harvest in October, he released a song educating farmers against the practice of burning paddy stubble. His other songs touch social issues such as female infanticide and drug addiction, and have catchy videos featuring him.
Guj polls: Star campaigner tag for Hooda, Warring
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring were the only leaders from Haryana and Punjab to have been included in the list of Congress star campaigners for the first phase of Gujarat assembly elections. Hooda’s rivals such as former Union minister Kumari Selja and Warring’s counterpart in the Congress legislature party (CLP) Partap Singh Bajwa did not figure on the star campaigners list for the first phase polls. Looks like it would have come as an ego boost for the two leaders.
Audio clip sparks fresh row
Even as the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh concluded a week ago, BJP’S troubles are far from over. A oneminute audio clip is doing the rounds on social media in which former minister Gulab Singh is allegedly telling his supporter to teach the BJP a lesson for “selling the ticket to a millionaire”. Singh,
who is the father-in-law of Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur, was sulking after being denied a ticket from Jogindernagar where he was replaced with Independent legislator Prakash Rana who joined the party before the assembly elections. Though the audio was recorded before the elections, it has again raised questions over the functioning of the BJP. Singh is not the first to level such charges against the party.
‘Bill da mamla’: Cong, BJP trade barbs
A fresh war of words has erupted between the BJP and the Congress after the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) submitted a ₹14 crore bill for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies. The state government had engaged more than 300 buses each of the PM’S rallies in Bilaspur, Una, and Chamba. While the HRTC has sought money from the government, the opposition Congress said the bill buttresses its allegation of misuse of public money and government machinery for PM’S rallies aimed at gaining political mileage. The Congress demanded that either BJP or transport minister Bikram Singh should pay the bill.