Category: Punjab

Addressing a function organized by the District Bar Association here, two-time Chief Minister Capt Amarinder said India faced grave security challenges from the ‘China-Pakistan-Taliban’ nexus….reports Asian Lite News

Punjab Lok Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said the state needed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for security as well as economic revival.

He also criticized the Congress party’s decision to nominate Charanjit Singh Channi as the Chief Ministerial candidate despite serious allegations of corruption after seizure of Rs 10 crore from the possession of his nephew.

Addressing a function organized by the District Bar Association here, two-time Chief Minister Capt Amarinder said India faced grave security challenges from the ‘China-Pakistan-Taliban’ nexus.

“The challenge will be greater for Punjab for being at the forefront with a 600-km long border,” he said, while adding, “We need a government that will take the security challenge seriously and work in close coordination with the Central government.”

He gave details of the highly sophisticated drones being used by Pakistan to smuggle weapons, drugs and counterfeit currency to this side of the border. He criticized Chief Minister Channi for “senseless” opposition to the extension of the operational jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF), which was the need of the hour.

Referring to the economic situation prevailing in the state, Amarinder Singh said, while the GDP of Punjab was Rs 5.25 lakh crore, 70 per cent of it was borrowed. He said it is a humongous task to come out of this debt trap, which cannot be possible without cooperation and support from the Central government.

The former Chief Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre was going to be there, at least, for another seven years. “We must have a government in Punjab that will work with him as that is the only way out,” he added.

Capt Amarinder’s fledgling Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) is contesting the polls in alliance with the BJP and SAD (Sanyukt), an Akali Dal rebel.

He is contesting from his bastion Patiala (Urban), the seat that he has won for four consecutive terms since 2002 when he first contested.

In 2017, Capt Amarinder, 80, polled 72,217 votes against nearest rival Balbir Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, who got just 19,852. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate and former Army chief Gen J.J. Singh (retd) got just 11,613 votes. Gen Singh is now with the BJP.

Punjab will go to the polls for the 117 Assembly seats on February 20.

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Jakhar’s assertions come at a time when the party is conducting an opinion tele-survey on who should the Congress nominate as its CM candidate. The race is hot between Channi, state’s first Dalit Chief Minister, and Sidhu, a Jat Sikh….writes Vishal Gulati

In an obvious embarrassment for the Congress ahead of announcement of its chief minister’s face for Punjab Assembly polls, former state unit party chief Sunil Jakhar, a prominent Hindu face, has spilled beans by saying Navjot Sidhu and Charanjit Channi were least favoured as the Chief Minister’s probable after Capt Amarinder Singh’s exit.

He said he was the first choice with 42 of the 79 legislators favoured his name, replacing incumbent Capt Amarinder Singh in last September.

Jakhar’s assertions come at a time when the party is conducting an opinion tele-survey on who should the Congress nominate as its CM candidate. The race is hot between Channi, state’s first Dalit Chief Minister, and Sidhu, a Jat Sikh.

Seeking votes for his nephew Sandeep Jakhar, the third generation who is in the fray from Abohar in Fazilka district, the stronghold of Jakhars for five decades, the former Congress chief said Chief Minister Charanjit Channi was preferred by only two legislators in an internal survey by the party based on telephonic conversation.

In a video Jakhar was heard saying the Congress high command had asked all 79 of the party’s Punjab MLAs to give their preference for the chief ministerial post after Captain Amarinder Singh resigned.

“Sunil Jakhar was favoured by 42 MLAs, Sukhjinder Randhawa got 16 votes and Preneet Kaur got support of 12 MLAs. Navjot Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi were liked by six and two MLAs, respectively,” Jakhar said.

“Despite being denied the top post, I am very happy that most MLAs trusted me. This is what I have earned in my career. I do not hold the post but the MLAs were in my favour,” he added.

With last week’s assurance by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi that workers will decide well ahead of the February 20 polling, a power struggle is on between Sidhu and Channi to be the chief ministerial candidate.

Currently, voters have been getting tele-calls to give their opinion as to who should the Congress nominate as its chief ministerial candidate. Those receiving the calls are also being asked whether Congress should reveal the name or not.

Political observers told IANS that it will be a tough task for the party high command to choose Channi, a Dalit Sikh, or Sidhu, a Jat Sikh, in a state with a population caste mix of roughly 32 per cent Dalits, 30 per cent Jat Sikhs and 40 per cent the rest.

“Most of the cabinet ministers and top leaders are standing behind Channi owing to his soft approach, easy accessibility and the most important, the biggest Dalit face. If the high command projects Sidhu as the chief minister’s face, it could upset the party’s Dalit vote bank,” a senior Congress leader told IANS, requesting anonymity.

“The crucial challenge against Sidhu is that he’s neither a Congress veteran nor enjoys a mass base. He was selected to lead the party at a time when the anti-incumbency of Amarinder Singh was at its peak. Sidhu helped greatly in overcoming the anger against the government by attacking its policies,” he said.

“Now after building an image of transferring power from the elite to the poor, the party can’t ignore Channi’s claim at this stage,” the Congress leader added.

In a bid to woo Dalit voters, Channi is contesting the polls from two reserved constituencies — Bhadaur in Barnala district and his pocket borough Chamkaur Sahib in Ropar district.

Seeing his growing influence and stature, the Chief Minister has been given the second seat Bhadaur to counter the dominance of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Barnala and its adjoining areas in Malwa region by consolidating the Scheduled Caste votes.

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With the total immovable assets of Rs 6.71 crore and movable properties of Rs 8.4 crore, Badal is facing a case of alleged forgery of the constitution of the party in a Hoshiarpur court….writes VISHAL GULATI

With a century old regional political outfit Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) fighting this Assembly polls in Punjab to save its ‘sinking ship’ after a humiliating defeat in the 2017 Assembly polls is largely banking on its charismatic Parkash Singh Badal, 94, whose feet were touched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi owing to humility after filing his nomination papers for the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in 2019.

Also, for the first time SAD is testing waters after severing its ties with the BJP with which it joined hands in 1997 during the state polls and remained its oldest ally for 23 years.

SAD patriarch Badal, a founding member of the NDA who before parting ways had always referred to ties as ‘nau-maas da rishta’ (nail-and-flesh ties), has jumped into the fray in these polls.

Elderly Badal filed his nomination from his bastion Lambi in Muktsar district on Monday for the sixth time in a row. With this he’s the oldest candidate in the fray from the state that he has been retaining since 1997. This is his 13th Assembly election.

With the total immovable assets of Rs 6.71 crore and movable properties of Rs 8.4 crore, Badal is facing a case of alleged forgery of the constitution of the party in a Hoshiarpur court.

His son and SAD President Sukhbir Badal, the Ferozepur Lok Sabha member, is contesting from his stronghold Jalalabad for the fourth time.

His Bathinda Lok Sabha member wife Harsimrat Kaur has filed the nomination as covering candidate from Jalalabad, the seat in Fazilka district that has a sizeable population of the Rai Sikh community.

Harsimrat Kaur is also elderly Badal’s covering candidate from Lambi.

After filing his nomination papers, elderly Badal said, “I am continuing my relationship with the people of Lambi who have stood with me through thick and thin. I am also committed to nourishing the constituency always.”

He said he has complete confidence in the constituents.

“The people have made my campaign their campaign and informed me that they will ensure my victory with a thumping majority,” elderly Badal, who just recovered from Covid-19, told IANS.

Badal’s party, which is just six year elder to him, came into being on December 14, 1920, to free gurdwaras from the control of mahants (priests) appointed by the British government.

The Akali Dal, which aligned with the Congress during the pre-Independence period, is toeing core its ‘panthic’ ideology to safeguard the interests of Sikhs. It was set up a month after the formation of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Ever since 1997, the Akali Dal had fought all the elections in the state in alliance with the BJP, winning three Assembly elections, till 2020 when it objected to the three now revoked contentious farm laws.

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to Punjab last month, Badal asked Modi to create the right atmosphere for his much-delayed visit to Punjab by first taking some concrete steps to expose the conspiracy behind the on-going incidents of sacrilege against Sikh faith and resolving the other major political, religious and economic issues facing the state.

He listed five major issues on which he said a prime ministerial package would lend credence and respectability to Modi’s visit to Ferozepur.

“As the PM, you would earn a lot of goodwill and my personal gratitude, if before coming here, you announce an economic, political, agricultural and territorial package to meet the demands of the Punjabis.”

The former Chief Minister also drew the PM’s attention to thousands of Sikh families awaiting justice for the massacre of 1984.

Badal had said the PM’s visit would then truly be a welcome gesture and would heal many past wounds inflicted by successive Congress governments.

He had also demanded a major agricultural economic package to pull the farmers out of the tragic crisis into which they have sunk as a result of agricultural indebtedness.

Badal had asked the PM to heed the expectations of Punjabis on the resolution of their other long-standing major demands, including the transfer of Chandigarh and other Punjabi-speaking areas and the resolution of the river waters issue along Riparian principle.

He had also drew the attention of the PM to the loss of over 800 lives in the struggle against the three back laws on agriculture and said that these sacrifices must be acknowledged by concrete gestures by the Union government to help their families.

In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, the Congress had won an absolute majority by winning 77 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years.

The AAP had emerged as the second-largest party, winning 20 seats. SAD won 15 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured three seats.

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Amarinder is the candidate from Patiala (urban) seat. He will contest against Congress candidate and former Mayor Vishnu Sharma…reports Asian Lite News

Two-time Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who belongs to the erstwhile royal family owns no personal vehicle, but owed a loan of Rs 2 crore for a ‘royal’ farmhouse in the lower Shivalik hills near Chandigarh.

The assets worth Rs 3.55 crore were declared on Monday by Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Capt Amarinder Singh.

However, the value of assets declared by the 80-year-old former Congress leader dropped massively as compared to that declared during 2017 assembly polls when he was with the Congress.

Amarinder is the candidate from Patiala (urban) seat. He will contest against Congress candidate and former Mayor Vishnu Sharma.

He had declared total assets worth Rs 86.33 crore including that of his wife former union minister Preneet Kaur when he had successfully contested from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat during 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

In his affidavit filed before the Returning Officer in Patiala, Amarinder Singh declared his gross movable assets and his wife’s worth Rs 3.55 crore and Rs 4.17 crore, respectively.

The scion of erstwhile royal state of Patiala, who owns the palatial new Moti Bagh palace in Patiala, has no criminal case. However, he is facing a complaint the income tax “evasion”.

‘Rahul’s claims of deciding CM’s face farce’

 Even as he dubbed as farce Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims of deciding the chief minister face with inputs from the ground, Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday predicted an abysmal defeat for Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar East, which he had won in the past only with the support of the BJP.

Addressing the media after filing his nomination papers from Patiala Urban and inaugurating his party office there, the former chief minister termed as ridiculous Sidhu’s charge of his hand in pitting Bikram Singh Majithia against him by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

“I’m not Majithia’s uncle,” quipped Capt Amarinder, adding with 38 per cent of the voters in Amritsar East being Hindus and 32 per cent Scheduled Castes, Sidhu’s defeat was certain. The BJP, as part of alliance with the PLC and SAD Sanyukt, has fielded a strong candidate from the constituency, he added.

On Rahul Gandhi’s statement that the Congress would announce its chief ministerial candidate in the state after taking inputs from the ground, Capt Amarinder said this was just theatrics. He pointed out that as per procedure, the people elect their MLAs and then the CLP elects the chief minister, “and so all this talk of is just drama”.

Asked to comment on the decision of the farmers to contest the polls, the former chief minister said it was their right to do so. He personally had always supported them, said Capt Amarinder, pointing out that his government had announced jobs and Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each of the farmers who died during the agitation against the farm laws.

Exuding confidence of the PLC-BJP-SAD Sanyukt alliance forming the next government in Punjab, Capt Amarinder said, in response to a question, the decision to allow some of the PLC candidates to contest on the BJP symbol was taken keeping in mind the voter demographics.

While four PLC candidates will contest on the BJP symbol in urban segments, two of their candidates will fight on the PLC symbol in the rural constituencies, he explained.

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