VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

Kejri clears 20 names

AAP first list likely to be announced this week

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 1

The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) met in New Delhi today and finalised candidates for about 20 Assembly seats on the recommendation of the Campaign Committee.

The committee reportedly received objections about the shortlisted candidates on the remaining six seats of the first list. The candidature of the party’s women wing head, Baljinder Kaur, was kept pending. Sources said she was a frontrunner from the Talwandi Sabo constituency, but owing to some technical issue, her name could not be cleared.

Kaur was first announced as the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Bathinda but later singer-turned-politician Jassi Jasraj got the ticket. Before being appointed the state head of women wing, she unsuccessfully contested Talwandi Sabo bypoll, where she lost to Congress-turned- Akali leader Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu.

Party leaders, speaking off the record, said some of the candidates most likely to be given tickets were HS Phoolka from Dakha, ex-cop Sajjan Singh Cheema from Sultanpur Lodhi, Samar Partap Singh from Fazilka and Harjot Singh Bains from Sahnewal.

Arvind Kejriwal, AAP national convener and head of the PAC, chaired the meeting before leaving for Dharamsala for a 10-day Vipassana meditation camp.

Party sources said Sanjay Singh, state political affairs incharge, and Sucha Singh Chhotepur, AAP state convener, had been tasked with announcing the candidates in Chandigarh later this week.

Adding to the mystery over the names, different lists of the selected candidates were circulated on the social media. Leaders of AAP and other parties were also left guessing about the final list.

Sources said Kejriwal insisted on clearing the names today itself as regular delays in the release of first list was causing doubts among party volunteers.

In the reckoning

• HS Phoolka (Dakha),former cop Sajjan Singh Cheema (SultanpurLodhi), Samar Partap Singh (Fazilka) andHarjot Singh Bains(Sahnewal) are amongthe frontrunners
• The candidature of the party’s women’s wing head, Baljinder Kaur, has been kept pending.

Capt asks CM to apologise for SYL ‘mistake’

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, August 1

Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh today ridiculed the Shiromani Akali Dal’s claim that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had made an “innocent mistake” by signing and clearing the file for the construction of the SYL canal in 1978.

“Presuming that it was an innocent mistake, which actually it was not... will you apologise to the people of Punjab for the cardinal sin you committed by robbing them of their precious water and giving it away to Haryana, just to please your personal friend (Devi Lal)?” Amarinder asked Badal.

The PPCC chief wondered how a Chief Minister could play into the hands of “the clever babus in the secretariat” and clear such an important file in a routine manner, without having studied it, as claimed by SAD general secretary and party MP Prem Singh Chandumajra in Patiala yesterday.

Why farmers not getting loans, SC asks Centre

New Delhi, August 1

The Supreme Court today expressed concern over non-implementation of its directions on the issue of monetary assistance to farmers in drought-affected areas, saying non-disbursement of loans to them is a “reality”.

“Rains have started. What is the use of our directions and day-long hearings when our orders are not being implemented. This is a reality that farmers are not getting loans. This is a generalised situation. You (Centre) should verify whether banks are disbursing loans to farmers or not,” a Bench comprising Justices MB Lokur and NV Ramana said.

The apex court, hearing a PIL on the plight of farmers in 12 drought-hit states, including Gujarat, asked Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha to verify the condition of farmers in distress-hit areas and respond by September 14.

The observation came when Yogendra Yadav, founding member of petitioner NGO ‘Swaraj Abhiyan’, alleged that farmers were being treated like “dirt” and no restructuring of loans was being done for them. — PTI

SAD-BJP rule ruined Punjab: Bhattal

Says alliance has virtually plundered the state and it will take years to recover from it

Senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal at the Congress rally conducted near Jandiali village at Sahnewal on Monday. A Tribune photograph

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 1

Residents of Sargodha Colony are up in arms against the Municipal Corporation authorities for coming up with a storeroom in one of the public parks in Sargodha Colony here.

They submitted a memorandum to Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria regarding the issue today.

They said the colony falls in Ward Number 49 of Ludhiana West, which was well-planned. There was a Gurudwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha in the area and opposite to it, there was a public park in which residents go for walk and spend their leisure time. But in one of the corners of the public park, a storeroom has been constructed by the MC authorities, which was creating a lot of problems for residents.

People had started throwing garbage near the store room. As a result, it remains surrounded with litter. Due to this, residents have stopped visiting the park. Residents said they even met the area MLA and councillor, but the store room was not closed. They asked Mayor to intervene and get the store shifted from here.

CONGRESS RALLY TURNS OUT TO BE A BIG CROWD-PULLER

The rally by Congress leaders and workers of Mahila Congress near Jandiali village on Chandigarh Road proved to be a grand success as thousands of party workers from all surrounding villages and towns gathered to attend it.

Senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal declared that the Congress would stage a great comeback in 2017 since the people have been beaten and looted by the Akalis in its 9-and-a-half-years’ of its rule in Punjab. She said 80 such political rallies have been held throughout the length and breadth of Punjab so far in connection with the Congress campaign for its Mission 2017.

Bhattal blamed the CM for mixing politics and family. She said Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal have softened their own path by creating hurdles for the coming generations. “By openly looting the general public, the Akalis have filled their own coffers and plundered the state of its national wealth,” she said. She said Punjab was being drained to penury by the corrupt politics being played by Badals so much so that they take aid from the Centre and termed it their own brain child.

She said the poor fiscal management by the SAD-BJP alliance had dragged the state towards financial bankruptcy. 

She cautioned workers that if the Akalis were not voted out of power, they would finish Punjab for which coming generations would never forgive them. Therefore, she said, it was essential to root out the SAD-BJP government. “It is time to dislodge this government since both ‘chitta’ and ‘neela’ are dangerous for the state,” she said.

In charge Sahnewal Constituency Vikram Bajwa affirmed that there was presently a strong wave in favour of the Congress party as the common masses were entirely disillusioned by the performance of the existing party and wanted a change.

Former president of the Punjab State Congress Committee HS Hanspal, Rural President Gurdev Singh Lapran, MLA Fatehgarh Sahib Kuljit Singh Nagra, Former Minister Avtar Singh Henry, MLA Khanna Gurkirat Singh Kotli, former MP Santosh Chaudhary, KP Rana, in charge Sahnewal Constituency Vikram Bajwa, Malkiat Singh Dakha and media adviser HS Virdi were also present at the rally.