AAP releases list of 19 candidates for Punjab Assembly elections
Amaninder Pal
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 4
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 4
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has stolen a march over its rivals—the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress—by releasing the first list of its candidates for 19 constituencies for the Punjab Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, AAP's Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur in a tweet said the TV report about his resignation was fake.
Amritsar senior deputy mayor’s turban toppled in scuffle with SAD leader
Senior deputy mayor Avtar Singh Truckanwala leaves after the scuffle. Tribune photo: Vishal Kumar
GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 4
The turban of senior deputy mayor Avtar Singh Truckanwala was reportedly toppled following a scuffle between him and SAD leader Navdeep Goldy at an administrative meeting here on Thursday.‘Honest’ Badals with Congress, says Manpreet
Tribune News Service
Muktsar, August 3
Congress leader Manpreet Singh Badal today said that both Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Badal had made the Badal family infamous. He said the honest Badals were in the Congress and Maheshinder Singh Badal was the best example.Sukhbir offers help to ‘rehabilitate’ MP
Our Correspondent
Fazilka, August 3
The war of words between leaders of the ruling SAD and AAP escalated, with Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal today saying that the state government was “ready to admit AAP MP Bhagwant Mann in any of the rehab and de-addiction centres situated across the state”.Slams Cong on SYL
- The Cong’s call for an all-party meeting on the issue is a farce as the party was behind the launching of the project. —Sukhbir Badal, Deputy Chief Minister
(With agency inputs)
Dullo accuses govt of bias against SCs
Tribune News Service
Drug menace issue taken up in RS
New Delhi, August 3
The problem of drug menace in Punjab came under scanner of the Rajya Sabha today with members raising questions over the “alarming” number of such cases and the Congress demanding a CBI probe into allegations against ministers of the ruling SAD-BJP combine in the state.
The government emphasised that it was taking steps to eradicate the menace while adding that mere taking names does not become the basis for lodging prosecution.
During Question Hour, nominated member KTS Tulsi raised the issue saying the number of drug-related cases being reported from Punjab was disproportionately high and out of the 15 top districts on this count, 13 belonged to Punjab.
Tulsi said nearly 40 cases were being reported from the state everyday, which was nearly half of the reported cases in the entire country, and sought to know what serious steps the Centre was taking to check the “alarming situation”.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, “The government has not termed the situation as not serious as any situation in which the youth are taking to drugs has to be taken seriously.”
He said the Home Ministry was in constant touch with the state government to take on the menace.
Tulsi, however, alleged “it is widely believed that a minister in the state government is involved in drug smuggling.” Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa claimed that former national champion Jagdish Singh Bhola, who was arrested on drug trafficking charges, had made shocking allegations against three ministers of the Badal-led government. He demanded a CBI inquiry into the accusations.— PTI
OROP panel to hold public hearings
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 3
The one-man Judicial Committee of former Chief Justice of the Patna High Court L Narasimha Reddy, set up by the Centre to look into implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) formula for ex-servicemen and address anomalies arising thereof, will hold public meetings and hearings on the issue.AAP ticket-hopefuls raise banner of revolt against ‘final’ names
RUMBLINGS Former bureaucrat Hardip Singh Kingra, a ticket-seeker from Faridkot, resigns from the party
CHANDIGARH: Even before the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announces its first list of 20 candidates for the assembly polls, bush fire of protests against the ‘finalised’ candidates have erupted at many places in the state.
Former bureaucrat Hardip Singh Kingra, a ticket hopeful from Faridkot, quit the party on Wednesday in what seemed to be in protest against having been denied a ticket. Kingra, who retired as chairman of the National Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation, GOI, joined the AAP in 2013 and was the party’s spokesperson and head of its finance committee. He was among the five people whose names were under consideration for the ticket from Faridkot. The ticket, say sources, is going to Gurdip Singh Sekhon, another AAP leader from the area.
Lashing out against AAP, Kingra said AAP had “degraded” and become worse than traditional parties. He said the Delhi AAP team led by Durgesh Pathak has destroyed the party in Punjab and had made sycophancy “a norm” in the party.
In Mohali, where the party’s legal head Himmat Singh Shergill’s name is said to have been finalised, 19 out of the 30 other ticket hopefuls passed a resolution against Shergill, saying that he was “unacceptable” as candidate. They said he was not even present at the meeting where the volunteers proposed names. They further alleged that Shergill has not visited his constituency after the parliamentary elections where people voted for him. They said voters openly say that his “behaviour with them was rude and unbecoming of a political leader.”
When contacted, Shergill said the resolution was of no value. “There are no allegations against me. The only thing they are holding against me that I did not attend the meeting where volunteers proposed my name. It has happened at many other places. They are saying all this because they feel they have been denied tickets,” he said.
Samar Bir Singh, who is tipped to be AAP’s candidate from Fazilka, also faced protests from a group of workers who are insisting that the ticket be given to somebody from the town itself. Samar Bir belongs to a village nearby. In Ludhiana (West) where Ahbab Grewal’s name is said to have been finalised, supporters of other candidates went to the extent of alleging that the party’s agents were demanding `1 crore for a ticket.From Talwandi Sabo, candidature of Prof Baljinder Kaur—the party’s women wing chief—has been withheld owing to pending allegations against her. Sources said there was a rethink on the names of former Punjab IG Jagdish Mittal from Barnala and Arjuna awardee Sajjan Singh Cheema from Sultanpur Lodhi. Some Sikh organisations have protested against Mittal for the role he played during terrorism. Circle presidents and officebearers of the party in Sultanpur Lodhi had on Tuesday threatened to boycott the party if Cheema is given the ticket. Names of Giani Sarup Singh Kadiana from Phillaur, former wrestler Kartar Singh Pehalwan from Tarn Taran and Master Baldev Singh from Jaito, which are said to be in the final list, are also being reconsidered.AAP volunteers recommended nearly 500 names for 26 assembly seats to the campaign committee, which forwarded its list to the party’s screening committee. The screening committee met on Sunday and shortlisted nearly 130 names, forwarding these to the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) headed by AAP convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. On Monday morning, before leaving for a 12-day meditation break, Kejriwal finalised 23 candidates, withholding two names. The list was to be made public by the party’s Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh through a press conference on Tuesday. However, sources said, the announcement was again deferred following complaints and affidavits filed by AAP volunteers and workers against some of the ‘finalised’ candidates. If the much-delayed list is not announced in the next two days, it will be out only after Kejriwal comes back from his Vipassana.
Buses linked to Sukhbir seized in Delhi, released
NEW DELHI: In a move that may have implications for Punjab politics, the Delhi government’s transport department has seized and later released eight luxury buses of IndoCanadian Transport service, a company in which Punjab’s deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal reportedly has a stake.The transport department said the Mercedes buses were operating without permits, running a passenger service from the Delhi airport to Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Chandigarh and Amritsar.
The buses charge `1,7002,500 for a 400-km journey.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest the assembly election in Punjab next year and the party has been campaigning against the Badal government in the state.Sources said the action against the Indo-Canadian Bus service was taken after a complaint from AAP MLA from Bijwasan, Devender Sehrawat.
“The airport area is under my constituency and I noticed the buses were plying illegally, ferrying passengers to various cities of Punjab. I submitted a complaint to the transport department and the Lieutenant Governor,” said Sehrawat.
Officials said eight buses were seized in a week.
“Some operators of the black and yellow taxis at the Delhi airport met us and filed a complaint against the IndoCanadian Transport service. We deployed our enforcement team at the airport. On Monday only, four buses were seized. The drive will continue and if the buses ply again, criminal action will be initiated,” said KK Dahiya, special commissioner (transport).
The buses were parked at the transport department’s Burari office. The bus operator, later, paid the challan and took the buses on Tuesday.
The office of Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, however, denied any seizure by the Delhi government. “All the documents of buses and permits are up to date,” said an official.
Hardeep Kumar Arora, manager, Indo-Canadian Transport service too said: “None of our buses have been seized as we have proper permit and documents.”
Delhi government officials, however, said that the buses had tourist permits and to pick passengers from Delhi, they need to have stage carriage permit.
Four years, no staff: Claims panel to CM
SUKHBIR’S HOME DEPT CREATING ‘DIFFICULTIES’ FOR BALI COMMISSION DEALING WITH DAMAGE TO GOVT PROPERTY IN AGITATIONS, PANEL CHIEF WRITES TO CM
CHANDIGARH: The Parkash-SinghBadal-led Akali-BJP government is yet to provide “sanctioned staff” to Punjab Claims Commission four years after the Punjab and Haryana high court formed the panel.
On Wednesday, the commission headed by chief justice VK Bali (retired) wrote to chief minister Badal about how officials of the home department looked after by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal are creating “difficulties” for the panel.
GOT ITS OFFICE AFTER 18 MONTHS
The Bali Commission deals with damage to the government property in agitations, of which 75 cases were registered in the state by 2012. The Punjab government formed this body on June 8, 2012, under the May 29, 2012, direction of the high court. But the commission got its office in December 2013, after 18 months. “…whereas the sanctioned staff has not been provided even till date,” justice Bali has said in his communiqué, seeking Badal’s “intervention at the earliest”, according to sources in the chief minister’s office (CMO).
NO REPLACEMENTS
Of the two senior assistants — Surjit Singh and Girdhari Lal — posted on the commission, one was transferred on his promotion as superintendent, while the other retired. “Thereafter,” reads justice Bali’s letter, “no senior assistant has been posted.” And the only clerk was also transferred on July 19 without a replacement.
Earlier, the under secretary (home) was told to look after the commission as well but the officer “seldom attended” the office for “more than an hour a day, that too only once or twice a week”. Deputy-secretary-rank officer Harchand Singh retired in October 2015 but replacement hasn’t arrived.
EXPENSES NOT CLEARED
Justice Bali told Badal that even the files sent to the home department for the sanctioning of “routine expenses” on telephone, electricity, and stationery were “not received back even after four months”. Even the vehicle-service bills are paid after six months.
When the claim commissioner and registrar were appointed, they were promised a a car along with driver and 290 litres of petrol or 440 litres of diesel each. Later, the travel was restricted to 80 kilometres per day, and 25 days a month, in violation of the conditions of appointment. Asking the government to restore the original terms, justice Bali said: “Several times we have written to the home department for the restoration of the facility of vehicles. The officers concerned be directed to remove the said difficulties.”
House ‘leaks’: At ‘receiving end’, Congress makes case for access to video recordings
How are the CM’s speech, the videos of minister Bikram Singh Majithia, and the apologies of our MLA being leaked? People have a right to know the issues we raised in the house and the questions we asked. CHARANJIT SINGH CHANNI, state CLP chief
CHANDIGARH: Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s speech during this year’s budget session of the assembly on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal — “Punjab does not have a drop of water to spare for other states” — is beaming on ruling family-owned PTC channel and FM radio channels. From the same session, a video of Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi helplessly fielding bouncers of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal brought much embarrassment to the party. It later fuelled a full-blown war on messaging app WhatsApp, as a furious Channi claimed the clips had been tampered with, and also accused the speaker, Charanjit Singh Atwal, of being behind the shoot-and-leak.
If party’s woes were already not overflowing, came video of Indian Youth Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring repeatedly saying sorry to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha, that too went viral on the messaging app. Valtoha too has often courted controversies for his “outbursts” in the assembly. But the videos, claims the Congress, are out of its reach and a “privilege” of the ruling party.
Ahead of the last session of the assembly before the 2017 state polls, Channi had demanded that video recordings be supplied to members of political parties in the House on request. However, the matter listed as the agenda item in the general purposes committee of the Vidhan Sabha held on Wednesday was deferred by Atwal after parliamentary affairs minister Madan Mohan Mittal of the BJP said “chairmen of other house committees too need to be present”.hanni later accused Mittal and Atwal of deferring it, “fearing” it might be passed, as there were equal number of members (three each) from the Congress and the ruling SAD-BJP.
Citing example of the Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan assemblies -- which allow video recordings to members --- Channi said: “The government is misusing videos for its publicity while opposition members are being denied the same right. The rules of Lok Sabha, which are followed as precedent by most state assemblies, clearly state that the members of the house can be supplied the videos on request. Assemblies of many states such as UP and Rajasthan too allow it and we attached copies of the same to the agenda item. People have a right to know the issues we raised in the house and the questions we asked. But speaker is not exercising his powers as a neutral person.”
He also questioned the “speaker’s contention” that since house proceedings are recorded on a hard disc which is sealed the same day, it is not possible to give video clips out of it. “How is the speech of the CM and videos of minister Bikram Singh Majithia and apologies of our MLA being leaked. The videos are not only being leaked in connivance with the government but they are also being tampered with in a studio,” Channi said.
Earlier, two private channels, including PTC, were allowed to cover the proceedings. But after expletives were hurled by Majithia went viral on YouTube, the other channel, Day and Night News, was denied the rights; later the speaker had to debar PTC too after the opposition Congress alleged “selective and biased” telecast.
No comments:
Post a Comment