VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

SUB MAJOR DEVILAL PREPARATIONS FOR ESM RALLY AT JAGROAN ON 17  JUL 2016.   

 

Col Balbir Singh with ESM at Mukatsar for 03 Jul 2016 Rally of ESM

Rebel leaders accuse Akalis, BJP of promoting drug trade

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 26

Suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi, Independent MLA Simarjit Singh Bains and expelled BJP leader Kishan Lal Sharma today accused the SAD-BJP alliance of promoting the drug trade in the state.

Addressing the “Insaaf rally”, Bains said, "The ruling alliance leaders proudly flaunt figures pertaining to big scams."

He slammed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for handing plum posts to his close relatives and shielding their alleged involvement in various scams.

Dr Gandhi said the Badal family had even imposed restrictions on the media in the state. "They have ordered blackout of channels who dared to expose them," he added. On being asked whether he along with the other rebel leaders from various political parties were planning to float a new party, he said it might be possible in the near future.

When asked about his suspension, Gandhi said, “Even though it's been eight months that he has submitted a reply to the party, he is yet to hear from them. Either the ground of my suspension is too weak to allow them to expel me from the party or they are scared to lose a crucial vote bank ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections in the state." 

2017 state polls on mind, SAD invokes Emergency in posters

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 26

A day after the Punjab BJP observed Black Day in the state to mark the Emergency and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi also evoking the Emergency in his “Mann ki Baat” with the people of India today, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), too, has decided to cash in on the issue with a poster campaign.

With big hoardings with the words Emergency – 1975-77 (in Punjabi) and pictures of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal dotting various places in the city, the SAD has made pointed digs at the Congress through posters evoking the Emergency.

While at various levels the SAD’s campaign has already witnessed a more pointed stance against the Congress, compared to the Aam Aadmi Party in the past few days, the Black Day (Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975) has been encashed by the Shorimani Akali Dal as an opportunity to take on the Opposition in the state ahead of the 2017 elections.

However, the party’s fresh posters – unlike the previous political “Raj Nahi Sewa” versions of his posters which usually depict the CM with folded hands (this one has him with a raised index finger) and often beasr his and the Deputy CM’s pictures or other political aides as well. This one is marked by a difference, getting straight to the point and eulogising the CM.

The posters read: “Jadon desh vich lagai si Emergency, odon itihas de sabh ton kale dinan vich roshni di misaal lai ke tureya te laiya Emergency khilaf morcha” (when Emergency was imposed in the country, during the blackest days in history, he walked with a torch of light and opened a campaign against Emergency).

Parkash Singh Badal ne 7 mahine khud salakhan picche reh ke lokraj nu karaiya bahal (Parkash Singh Badal remained behind bars for seven months and reinstated people’s reign).

Cabinet minister Ajit Singh Kohar said, “We are getting the people of Punjab together against parties which have been bad for them. Emergency was a bad phase which caused much harm to people.”

The BJP has observed ‘Black Day’ on June 25 and 26 across the state to mark the imposition of the Emergency in the country in 1975.

The poster reads...

• “Jadon desh vich lagai si Emergency, odon itihas de sabh ton kale dinan vich roshni di misaal lai ke tureya te laiya Emergency khilaf morcha” (when Emergency was imposed in the country, during the blackest days in history, he walked with a torch of light and opened a campaign against Emergency). Parkash Singh Badal ne 7 mahine khud salakhan picche reh ke lokraj nu karaiya bahal (Parkash Singh Badal remained behind bars for seven months and reinstated people’s reign).

Fresh row after Cong picks Asha as Punjab in-charge

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The Congress appointed on Sunday Himachal Pradesh lawmaker Asha Kumari as the party’s Punjab in-charge in place of senior leader Kamal Nath, triggering a fresh controversy as she has been convicted of usurping land in her home state.

Kumari, the MLA for Dalhousie, was convicted on February 26 in a 1998 land grab case and sentenced to a year in jail apart from a fine of `8,000. The court in Chamba held her guilty of criminal conspiracy.

She was accused of manipulating revenue records, fabricating wills and transferring about 24 acres of government forest land in the name of her husband Brijender Singh. But on March 19, the Himachal Pradesh high court suspended the sentence.Sixty-one-year-old Kumari is currently out on bail.Her appointment gave fodder to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the AAP to corner the Congress. “First it was Kamal Nath and now Asha Kumari. I think they (Congress) don’t have good leaders,” Punjab BJP leader Vineet Joshi said, terming the appointment as “unfortunate and disgusting”. The two parties earlier launched a stinging attack on Nath for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, prompting him to resign on June 15 barely a few days after being given the post.

The two appointments have put the Congress on the back foot ahead of next year’s crucial assembly elections in the state As AICC secretary, Kumari was looking after the party’s affairs in Haryana. Congress sources indicated that Punjab will be a temporary arrangement for her till the leadership does an organisational reshuffle.

In Punjab Congress circles, the appointment of a lightweight in the party is widely seen as a “winwin situation” for state chief Captain Amarinder Singh who will now apparently have a “free hand” in the run-up to the polls.

The Congress is desperately seeking a win in Punjab to stem the electoral downslide following the debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. For his part, Amarinder said he will work in close coordination with Kumari. “She wouldn’t create problems for Punjab,” he said. “I can work closely with her as she is politically wise with positive approach.” Punjab Congress functionaries feel that senior leaders used to create separate power centres and divide the party but the fresh move will empower Amarinder. Senior leader Sunil Jakhar said Kumari will act as a bridge between the state unit and the central leadership.

Jakhar said Kumari’s appointment is part of Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi’s longterm strategy to empower the regional leadership.

HP MLA Asha Kumari Punjab Cong incharge

Surprise choice has her set of controversies, having been convicted in land grab case

Asha Kumari

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 26

In a surprise move, the Congress today named 61-year-old Asha Kumari, five-time party MLA from Himachal Pradesh, the new incharge of Punjab affairs days after a controversy triggered the ouster of previously appointed general secretary Kamal Nath.

Asha Kumari, AICC secretary in charge of Haryana, will continue to handle the role apart from now looking after election-bound Punjab.

Asha will, however, only handle Punjab as its incharge, a position separate from general secretary’s. 

Asked if this means the party won’t appoint any general secretary for Punjab, a senior leader said, “Once an incharge has been named, it isn’t essential that a general secretary will be named. For example, PC Chacko has now been incharge of Delhi for long without the state having any general secretary. However, the decision on whether to appoint a general secretary is up to the party high command.”

The Congress was considering former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as general secretary for Punjab but the matter was kept pending in the wake of AAP lodging an FIR against her in the tanker scam in Delhi.

Even Asha has her set of controversies. She was in February this year convicted by a Himachal court in a land grab case and sentenced to one-year imprisonment. She is currently out on bail, with the Congress rivals likely to use the issue against her.

AAP had earlier targeted Kamal Nath for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, leading to his ouster as general secretary, Punjab.

That apart, Asha Kumari is known to have organisational skills and is a close confidant of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Daughter of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Madneshwar Saran Singh Deo, Asha is a founder-member of Congress youth wing NSUI and has served in the Virbhadra Singh cabinet when she was close to the CM. 

Asha hails from an MP royal family and was married into the Chamba royalty. She represents Dalhousie and is a prominent face of the anti-Virbhadra camp at present. 

Her elevation is seen as a major promotion and perhaps a stepping stone to general secretary-ship. Shakeel Ahmad, the replaced Punjab general secretary, too, was first named state incharge before being elevated as general secretary.