Sunday, 21 August 2016

WHO IS FRONT RUNNER TO DIVIDE EX-SERVICEMEN OF PUNJAB::
GUESS FORCE BEHIND.

Brig Indermohan writes to Maj Gen Satbir yet to get response

Gen Satbir,

your post is absolutely confusing.

The Koshiyari Committee as also the committee of secretaries 2009 definition says uniform pension for same rank and length of service for past pensioners as current pensioners and future enhancements to be passed on automatically to past pensioners.

The govt press release of gave bridging of pensions every five years. The definition of says periodic intervals and no mention of actual periodicity. Now to your post, I don't understand on one hand you say you maintained implementation of OROP as per approved definition and in same breath say if govt ready to implement OROP as per definition and insisted equalisation after five years you agreed to accept equalisation every two years.

Thereafter you write since the govt did not implement actual OROP you too withdrew acceptance of equalisation every two years. At no stage the govt accepted OROP as per definition. Not even in your last meeting on 5 Sep. Please elucidate.

Now to your visits to Punjab, nearly a dozen rallies, to " inform and unite " the defense fraternity. Inform what? If Punjab needed a dozen visits to inform, I am sure the other states also needed similar rallies. Or do you think ESM from Punjab are dumb and needed your classes at a dozen venues and the esm of the rest of the country did not need you or at best one visit.

Now your point that you came to unite the defense fraternity. Gen Satbir you are the one who in first place split the defence fraternity of Punjab. There was hardly any day to day activity which needed participation of esm till the OROP issue got raised afresh in 2014 Feb. From 2014 till 6 Jun 2015 there was still no problem. But it was your personal ambition and sorry to say, you exploited the turban on your head. You could not touch Haryana which is your home state.

You made an odd visit to Ambala and no other place in Haryana because Ambala is closer to Punjab than any other place, only five kms away, closer to Punjab villages of Patiala and Mohali districts, has a fair number of SIKH ESM. Why did you not go to other parts of Haryana. Unfortunately for you the whole state is rock solid IESL.

Jats, Ahirs, Gujjars and other denominations of Haryana esm who also gave whole hearted support at jm, being closest and in large numbers for the common cause of OROP could not be split by you because they don't wear turbans. You have been the biggest enemy of Punjab ESM, you have split the esm community for your personal ends.

Not contended with what you have done now you have joined hands with AKALI/BJP to influence election results. Let me tell you, you are not even capable of winning the Gurgaon Municipal Ward where you have been staying for decades and you think you have role to play in Punjab elections.

About getting in touch with me you have to take a dip in the Holy Sarovar of Golden Temple. Cleanse yourself of all the wrongs you have done in the name of esm leadership.

You know why we have no problem. Because we have no money and have never collected money from esm. You did it in PATHANKOT through Brig Prahlad Singh and also for the Jagraon rally as I happen to be living close by and am aware.

Other places i am not aware. Except Col Harjinder Sangha from Jalandhar who has still not digested the defeat I handed to him in my first election name one repeat one unit in Punjab who doesn't acknowledge my efforts past two years.

I know how to win the respect of persons who look upto you, whether it was in service or with esm now. I visited entire Punjab regularly before, during and after the OROP movement.

Now I am visiting and mobilising ESM in support of Capt Amarinder Singh in all constituencies. October onwards I will begin village to village contact with esm. Gen Satbir all at my cost. Not like you, who in your last meeting asked for seats, I know how many, and also financial support from Capt Amarinder Singh. Can't you look beyond money in everything you do. I am doing my bit for our beloved Punjab not worried about the outcome.

You have already reaped financial rewards. We will ask every ESM you put up in elections who financed you. Today our JCOs NCOs are slightly better off after getting improved pensions and are we fools not to know the money power behind them to contest elections. And all this you are doing against the wishes of people of Punjab only for your share of financial rewards

Let me assure you GEN Satbir I will not let you sleep in peace now that you have come to "influence" Punjab elections.

Brig

Inder Mohan( Whats app Message)

LT GEN RAJ KADIYAN WRITES TO ABOUT MAJ GEN SATBIR SINGH

Dear Colleagues,

The One Man Judicial Commiattee held a public hearing at Chandigarh on Aug 17.

Here is an eye witness account sent to me by a veteran:

"Dear Sir I attended the OMJC Mtg at Chd. The judge is being assisted my Army P & P Cell.

The Army P & P Cell is very pro to veterans as I know them all personaly & i met them by going on the stage.

All the points were discusded by the veterens & most of the pts were conceded well.

Majors point was raised many time & discussed well.

But in the end very bad events took place. I'm disappointed to witness that.

One Sgt Rajeev Behal & one NK spoiled the event.

Then it was only lectures against systems in India as well as Army Officers.

The Judge said it is Anti National remarks which I can take note of this.

The system can't be wrong & I hv seen the Army Officers hv raised all points of Jawan & Veer Naries then how you can blame them.

Pay & perks diff hv to be there in our country. They just can't be same for officers & jawans in the country.

Your remarks are unexpected veterans & I never expected from you.

Then I left the mtg place bit early as i was getting late for my journey. While leaving I hv seen them standing outside with black flags to show the judge. Sad & sad."

What a shame we have brought on ourselves. We officers must accept the blame for this divide, since we hold the controls. We gave the JCOs/OR a cause to mistrust us.

During the six-year IESM struggle for OROP we carried everyone along and presented a solid front.

The IESM Governing Body (GB) officers first cheated the JCOs/OR in the 2.12.2012 elections.

The officer members managed to get in the GB through the backdoor by arbitrarily rejecting nomination forms of non-officer candidates, creating a situation where the number of candidates in the fray became less than the number of vacancies, using this pretext not allowing voting, and *declaring themselves re-elected unopposed*.

This ostrich approach couldn't have carried them far.

In July 2013 the GB was dissolved by the general body reducing these officers to a status of ordinary IESM members.

The District and State Registrars upheld the general body decision.

The officers then appealed to the High Court to get back their GB seats.

Six or seven appeals were filed over a period, of course spending on legal fees from the IESM funds, which through connivance with the bank they were still controlling.

In the HC it was contended from the Respondents' side that as per Haryana Act of 2012, the appeal against the State Registrar's judgment can only go the Registrar General and the court does not have jurisdiction, and hence the appeal is not maintainable.

On 14.11.2014 the Court asked the Haryana Govt to give a written clarification on the powers of the Registrar General.

The Haryana govt gave this clarification unequivocally on 10.2.2015.

Since then, there has been no progress except many dates. Next date of hearing is 16.12.2016.

In the closing stages of the 14.11.2014 hearing, when the judge had already passed the file on to the Reader, the petitioners pleaded that they had already announced election two days hence ie on 16.11.2014 in Pune and time was too short to call these off.

Arguments had already finished and there was no time to tell the court, that as ordinary members they had no authority to call the elections when they did.

On the said Pune elections and on the subject of who is the Chairman, the court had this to say in their written judgment based on hearing on 14.11.20145 (I am Respondent No 3):

"At this stage, it may not be possible for me to stay the election
proceedings but the validity and otherwise of such an election will abide
by the decision in this writ petition as regards the maintainability and
the ability of the petitioners to show that the 3rd respondent cannot hold the office of Chairman.

As it is, the District Registrar and the State Registrar have found the 3rd respondent to be the Chairman of the society, there shall be no interference with his management and his own status will again come for consideration at appropriate time when the validity of the orders are considered.

The order passed already shall stand modified to the following
extent:

Any election which is held by the petitioner pursuant to the
General Body Meeting called through notices in Ex.P-11 will
go on but none of the decisions brought through such a
meeting can be given effect to affect the order of the State
Registrar insofar as his recognition of the 3rd respondent to
be the Chairman shall remain and the directions regarding
conduct of election by the Ad hoc Committee constituted by
him shall remain in suspension.

The application is disposed of.
It is, however, clarified that no new governing body will
function and the governing body as it existed before, with 3rd respondent as Chairman till a new elected body is approved by Court order."

Just because someone has been falsely calling himself Chairman, does not change the fact of who IS the Chairman. Also, a false impression has been created that the IESM has split into two.

It needs stressing that there is only one IESM and only one Chairman.

The last GB meeting that was called by the General Secretary was on 23.3.2015.

It was attended by 19 of the total 20 members.

One of the decisions taken was that accounts from Jan 2013 till date would be shown to the Chairman on 7.4.2015 so that he can see and countersign, as required by the Memorandum.

Unfortunately, the accounts were not shown. The reluctance to show accounts can be understood in the light of what transpired in the court case later, leading to the court directing the police to lodge and FIR.

The General secretary has not called any GB meeting after 23.3 2015, despite my requests.

Therefore, I have been calling such meetings myself so that the normal work can carry on.

These meetings are announced to all, minutes are recorded and circulated to all GB members.

The officers have been keeping away from such meetings because they know a question would be asked why the Vice Chairman, General Secretary and Treasurer, who are jointly handling the accounts, have not shown these accounts to the Chairman as decided.

The other GB officers are either helpless or keeping quiet for some reason pertaining to IESM funds.

That the accounts are not clean, has already been established by the courts.

The JM activities have caused damage to the veterans cause. With a head-in-the-sand stance it is claimed that if JM had not happened, there would have been no OROP.

The OROP had been accepted on the floor of the Parliament and funds had been earmarked.

The PM himself had made at least three public commitments - Hisar, Siachen and Goa - that they are committed to granting OROP.

In two different meetings the RM openly said, "The PM is very soft towards soldiers and you would have got complete OROP as you wanted.

I had advised the JM leader to desist from the protest but he did not listen (he said so pointing to the leader sitting there during one of the meetings).

Now you are trying to get your demand with a gun held on the government's head?" he added questioningly.

The claim that 'if JM had not happened, there would have been no OROP' borders on absurdity.

The only contribution JM has made to OROP is getting it diluted

Who authorised anybody to accept a two-yearly revision of pension? This was not only a violation of Koshyari definition of OROP, which implies an yearly revision, but a blatant betrayal of our cause.

We have shot ourselves in the foot. Trying to wriggle out now through lame excuses, and claiming to belatedly stick to the yearly revision, is farcical and cannot undo the damage.

*JM has also caused lasting damage to the veterans' standing in the society*.

From seeing us as a class apart, they now consider us as ordinary trade union leaders.

From commanding respect and awe, veterans now often get mocked at.

Reverting to the first point about a chasm between Officers and JCOs/OR, this also found spark when Anna Hazare was insulted by the JM leader in July 2015 by denying him use of the ESM stage.

Apart from being an international icon, Anna is also a veteran NCO.

It would have been taken as a haughty and insulting action on the part of the officer class.

After the last GB meeting on 23.3.2015, someone using his clout with the bank had the IESM accounts blocked.

This provided a handy pretext to collect funds in cash.

The blame was falsely and conveniently put on me.

A few days ago I asked the JM leader to either provide proof or withdraw the allegation.

I have not seen any response.

They still refuse to give detailed accounts despite requests from many.

They want to be taken at face value that the funds are not being misused.

They had claimed the same innocence in a parallel case of embezzlement but it did not impress the court.

Their facade of smugness on JM funds may not be eternal.

Someday reality may explode in their face.

Lt Gen Raj Kadyan
Chairman IESM
262, Sector-17A

SATBIR DECLARE 21 ELECTION COMMITTEE PUNJAB(II) BUT REMAINING HIMSELF APOLITICAL

WITHOUT ANY INTEREST

21 Members Election Committee headed by Maj Gen SS Jawanda has been reconstituted as under:-

1 Maj Gen SS Jawanda : Ludhiana

2 Brig Harwant Singh : Mohali

3 Brig JS Sandhu : Delhi

4 Brig Manjit Singh : Jalandhar

5 Brig Prahalad Singh : Pathankot

6 Col Balbir Singh : Jalandhar

7 Col Raghbir Singh : Hoshiarpur

8 Col Dharam Singh : Gurdaspur

9 Col Iqbal Singh Gill : Ludhiana

10 Col KS Grewal : Patiala

11 Capt CS Sidhu. : Amritsar

12 H Capt Jarnail Singh Jaladan : Ludhiana

13 H Capt Dilawar : Hussain Roparh

14 H Capt Balbir Singh : Batala

15 SM Devi Dayal ; Jagraon

16 SM Madan Lal : Sharma Dinanagar

17 Sub Balbir Singh : Garhshankar

18 N/Sub Kulbir Singh : Gurdaspur

19 Hav Sukhdev Singh : Sangrur

20 Hav Davinder Singh : Nakodar

21 Nk Darshan Singh : Mukatsar

Any member of the Committee displaying such activities which are not acceptable to the Committee will be removed.

All decisions by the Committee will be approved by the Undersigned.

Committee will start functioning with immediate effect.

Hands Heads and Shoulders Together.God Bless Fauji Janta Party (FJP)

Regards

Maj Gen Satbir Singh SM

Chief Patron FJP.

MAJ GEN SPS GREWAL WRITES TO BRIG KAMBOJ TO UPLOAD EMAIL CONTENTS ON "REPORT MY SIGNAL" BUT DID NOT OBLIGE

Dear Sir,

This has reference to Gen Satbir Singh's denial to raising of Fauji Janta Party.

Gen Satbir Singh, Brig Sandhu, Ms Sidhu, Gen Secy Fauji Janta Party, Col Balbir Singh Convener Punjab Unit met Capt Amrinder Singh on 13 Aug at his residence in Chandigarh for negotiating for alliance to contest 50 seats.

He even requested Capt Amrinder Singh for photograph of this historic occasion which he readily obliged.

In what capacity did he hold discussions for this alliance in Punjab? Was it as Chairman IESM or as head of Fauji Janta Party? He needs to clarify.

Then on 15 Aug, at Issru, he told the audience that we will contest on 60 seats and not to worry about finances.

" Kuchh mil gaya hai aur baki bhi jaldi mil jayega"

. General expenditure on each seat is Rs 3-5 Crores and for 60 seats, it will be 200 - 300 crores.

Where is this money coming from? If you are spending about Rs 50- 60 Lakhs per seat, you are only meant to split ESM votes and there is no chance of win.

On whose behalf, are you doing all this, I want to ask Gen Satbir?

Who is Jai Chand of ESM unity? Let ESM themselves decide.

There is Sainik Samaj Party and Bhartya Rakhshak Party, then why Fauji Janta Party?

I am sure you will not shy away from publishing this mail as you always side with the truth

Maj Gen SPS Grewal

Indian Defence Veteran

L TO R:::COL CHARANJIT(MEDIATOR).LT GEN JASBIR SINGH DHARIWAL,CAPT AMRINDER SINGH,MAJ GEN SATBIR SINGH,COL BALBIR SINGH,Ms DALBIR SIDHU,BRIG JS SANDHU

Chandigarh belongs to Punjab: CM on Longowal death anniv

LONGOWAL (SANGRUR): Punjab has the sole right over Chandigarh, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said on the 31st death anniversary of Harchand Singh Longowal, who signed an accord with then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 for the transfer of the capital city to the state.Longowal, who was president of the Akali Dal during the Punjab militancy of the 1980s, had asked for Chandigarh in lieu of Punjab’s Hindi-speaking areas to Haryana. At the event meant to remember him on Saturday here, Badal and his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, also deputy CM, used the stage to boast about the state achievements and blast the Congress and the AAP, main rivals in the coming assembly elections.

Talking about the AAP, the deputy CM said Naxalites had infiltrated this “party of outsiders trying to capture power in Punjab”. Seeing the leaders digress, the crowd started leaving in the first 30 minutes. Interacting with the media later, Badal accused the former Congress government of depriving the state of its capital, Punjabi-speaking areas, and share of river water, besides being responsible for Longowal’s death and betraying him on the Punjab accord.

Capt: Badal’s hands stained with Longowal’s blood

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh has said that chief minister Parkash Singh Badal was shedding “crocodile tears” over the assassination of Sant Harchand Singh Longowal.

“Shedding crocodile tears now is not going to wash your (Badal) sins and the blood off your hands,” Amarinder said in a press statement on Saturday.“Badal’s hands are stained with Sant Ji’s blood as he betrayed him and backed out of the Rajiv-Longowal accord that eventually led to his assassination,” Capt Amarinder said, rejecting Badal’s allegation that Congress was to be blamed for Sant Longowal’s assassination.

“Either you have lost your conscience or you have lost your memory; or you wouldn’t be blaming others?”

Jalandhar soldier hurt in J&K encounter dies

JALANDHAR: Lance Havildar Davinder Singh, 38, from here, who was injured while fighting militants in the Machhil sector of Jammu and Kashmir on August 8, and was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Delhi, died on Friday. He had suffered three gun shots on his body.

Singh reportedly killed one militant before he was in injured.

Singh had completed his 21 years of service and his retire- ment was due in February.

His last rites were performed on Saturday at Dakoha village where the family of the martyr is residing. He has been survived by his wife and a 15-year-old son.

At the cremation ground, a sense of proud was visible in the eyes of the entire family when the martyr’s last rites were performed with full military and state honours.oban Bajwa, son of the martyr, remembered the last day he met his father.

“He had come for holidays and was happy as always. He would often talk of his friends in Kashmir, our country and his plans after retirement. April 1 was the date when I last met him,” Joban broke down while saying this.An emotional Satwinder Kaur said, “I had met him on August 9 in Delhi where his treatment was going on, he was emotional but proud, even we all are proud.”

Several young faces vie for Cong tickets in Jalandhar

CAPT HAS ANNOUNCED TO GIVE TICKETS ON AT LEAST 35 SEATS TO YOUNG CANDIDATES

JALANDHAR: Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh’s announcement to give at least 35 seats to young candidates during the 2017 assembly polls, has evoked an enthusiastic response with many young faces of the party, especially from nonpolitical family background, applying for tickets.

Leading the race is Punjab Youth Congress chief Amarpreet Singh Lalli, who has applied for the ticket from the Garhshankar assembly segment of Hoshiarpur district. Lalli, 33, a grassroots worker of the party is counted among close confidants of the Rajya Sabha member and the party’s campaign committee chief for Punjab Ambika Soni.

A Jatt Sikh, Lalli, sources said, is claiming the ticket as the SAD candidate from the area Surinder Singh Bhulla Rathan is also a Jatt Sikh. He is equally close to the Amarinder camp and is eying a ticket against two-time former MLA Love Kumar Goldy – a Brahmin. From the same constituency, Congress spokesperson Nimisha Mehta, 33, also a Brahmin, has also applied for the ticket and has been active in the area for the past many months.

A former state vice-president of the Punjab Mahila Congress, Nimisha, is eyeing ticket from the constituency terming his original family roots in the segment. She has even set up her political office in Garshankar and is already campaigning in the villages. Party sources said the woman leader, who is not associated with any group, is banking upon her links for the ticket on certain senior leaders in the Congress high command.In Jalandhar, Youth Congress Lok Sabha president Ashwin Bhalla, 36, has applied for the ticket from the Jalandhar North constituency against threetime former MLA Avtar Henry. Bhalla is a surprise applicant from the seat as he belongs to the Bhogpur..

But, he is quite active in the city and has applied from Jalandhar North, a segment dominated by Hindu voters as he also belongs to the Hindu family.

“Bhalla is hoping that party may change candidate as Henry, a Jatt Sikh, has lost last two elections from the segment. Moreover, the party is not finding any suitable local replacement of Henry,” said a leader, who is the brain behind Bhalla’s move.

From Jalandhar West (reserved), sitting councillor from ward 46 of Jalandhar municipal corporation, Sushil Rinku, 41, has also applied from where, only former PCC chief Mohinder Singh Kay Pee’s family had contested polls in the past.

Rinku, whose family has been continuously winning the ward for past seven terms, is a well known face in the constituency, and started his career as a leader of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) – a student wing of the Congress.

In the Dasuya segment, NSUI leader Sunny Mehta (26), has also applied for the ticket. He is a strong youth leader and is active in the segment. He has been seeking ticket against local leader Arun Dogra.

In Jalandhar Cantonment, Lok Sabha Jalandhar vicepresident of Youth Congress, Gagandeep Singh Kaku Ahluwalia, 28, has applied. “It’s a good sign that the Congress has decided to give preference to young candidates. It does not mean that it’s a sort of party infighting, rather it’s a healthy trend for the party,” says Youth Congress president Lalli.

From traditional ruling families, Avtar Henry’s son Bawa Henry from Jalandhar North, and Nawanshar MLA Guriqbal Kaur’s son Angad Singh have also applied for tickets.

19 apply for Cong ticket from 3 assembly seats in Faridkot

KOTKAPURA ASSEMBLY SEAT RECEIVES 10 APPLICATIONS, WHILE FARIDKOT AND JAITO HAVE FOUR AND FIVE ASPIRANTS, RESPECTIVELY

FARIDKOT: As many as 19 Congress leaders have applied for party tickets to contest the assembly elections from the three constituencies in the district: Faridkot, Kotkapura and Jaito.

Kotkapura assembly seat received ten applications whereas Faridkot and Jaito (reserved seat) has four and five aspirants, respectively. However, there is not a single woman aspirant among the applicants.

The reason for high number of applicants for Kotkapura assembly seat has been attributed to strong anti-incumbency against current Shiromani Akali Dal MLA.

“There is strong anti-incumbency against the SAD MLA Mantar Singh Brar, leading to large number of aspirants for the seat. The election will be one-sided as the AAP candidate is also not a worthy contestant,” said Kotkapura Youth Congress leader Balkaran Singh Nangal.

Meanwhile, former MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon tried to project the high number of applicants for only three assembly seats as a positive development.“The large number of aspirants solidifies the fact that the Congress will form the next government,” said former MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon. “There is no infighting among aspirants and all of them filed for the tickets after taking each other into confidence,” he added.

The list of applicants includes veterans and youth leaders both. Aspirants for the Faridkot assembly seat are Surendra Gupta, former district Congress president, Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, former MLA, Surjit Singh Dhillon and Sandeep Singh Brar. Surendra Gupta (74) is the senior most among the lot.

Kushaldeep Dhillon (43) applied for Kotkapura also and is known for his proximity with Captain Amarinder Singh. Surjit Singh Dhillon (64) is relative of former chief minister Darbara Singh.

The nine aspirants for the Kotkapura assembly seat other than Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon are Upender Sharma, vice-president, PPCC; Ajay Pal Sandhu, secretary, PPCC; Raminder Awla, Vinod Maini, Gurbir Singh, Pawan Goyal secretary PPCC, Jaswinder Singh, Dhanjit Singh and Sukhjinder Singh.

The candidates who have applied for the Jaito seat are MLA Joginder Singh, district president, Congress, Beant Singh Burj, Narinder Singh, Gursewak Singh and Brij Lal.

Sidhu will add value to any party: ex-Congress MP

WOOING GAME After Kejriwal’s tweets, Congressmen are leaving no stone unturned

On a personal note, in whichever party he (Sidhu) goes, he will make an impact and add value to that party. VIJAY INDER SINGLA, ex-Congress MLA

MOGA: Congress leader and former member parliament (MP) Vijay Inder Singla said that Navjot Singh Sidhu will be valuable to any party, he choses to join.

“On a personal note, in whichever party he (Sidhu) goes, he will make an impact and add value to that party,” Singla said. All India Congress Committee spokesperson Singla along with former union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal were here in Moga on Saturday, to listen to the grievances of the traders to add their problems in the manifesto.

This is another in the string of many such statements which the Congressmen have been making to woo Sidhu into their fold.Recently, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Captain Amarinder Singh said that ‘‘Sidhu is a very good boy and has a Congress DNA’’ and his party man Manpreet Singh Badal offered to welcome Sidhu with barefoot.

It has been over a month since cricketer turned politician resigned as Bharatiya Janata Party MP. The speculations have been rife since then that he would join Aam Aadmi Party, but he is yet to join it.

Yesterday, AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a string of tweets, stated that Sidhu met him last week, didn’t put any pre-conditions and needed time to think.

“My respect for him will continue whether he joins or not,” another tweet from Kejriwal stated. Not leaving any opportunity, the Congress party leaders immediately started wooing Sidhu to welcome him into their party.

Bajwa to lead ‘kisan andolan’ from Aug 26

To fight for justice to farmers, waiver of their loans

Our Correspondent

Mohali, August 20
Partap Singh Bajwa, MP and former Punjab Congress chief, will lead a “kisan andolan” in the state to fight for justice to farmers and for waiver of their loans.

Bajwa, who has was speaking to mediapersons here today, said the “andolan” would begin on August 26 at Gurdaspur, where a protest would be held outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Capt Amarinder Singh, Ambika Soni, Asha Devi and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal would take part in the protest.

He said the slogan of the “andolan” would be “kisana nal insaf karo, sare karje maaf karo.” Such protests would be held weekly and would be attended by senior Congress leaders.

He said the office-bearers of the Agriculture Committee formed by the Congress in this connection would be announced soon.

Bajwa further said protests would be held in all 13 parliamentary constituencies in Punjab. Later, a programme would be held that would be attended by Rahul Gandhi.

Bajwa woos farmers
The MP said farmers had a loan burden of Rs 57,000 crore, which should be waived as the agricultural sector was going through a crisis, which was forcing farmers to commit suicide.

He said the UPA government had waived loans totalling Rs 72,000 crore during its tenure. The Narendra Modi government had now waived loans totalling Rs 1,14,000 crore, but these related only to the industrial sector. He should have first waived farmers’ loans before extending assistance to the industrial sector.

The MP said Modi and the SAD had promised that the Swaminathan report related to farmers would be implemented, but this had not happened over the past two and a half years.

Bajwa said when the Congress came to power in Punjab, an ordinance would be passed, which would bar banks, commission agents and moneylenders from changing the title of the land of the farmer concerned. Farmers having land less than 5 acres would be given interest-free loans by cooperative banks. The interest on these loans would be paid by the Congress government.

He said free power to farmers would continue and they would be given 12 hours of uninterrupted power supply instead of eight hours.

He said the crop insurance scheme had been introduced in 22 states, but the Punjab Government had not even forwarded the case of such insurance to the Centre so far.

He said the state government had given free tubewell connections to small farmers, but they found it difficult to spend Rs 1.50 lakh on installation and other expenses. All such concerns related to farmers would be part of the Congress manifesto.

When asked about former BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, Bajwa said he had been “de-robed” by the AAP. He appealed to Sidhu to join the Congress in Punjab’s interest.

Describing Arvind Kejriwal as another Donald Trump, he said he would face an electoral fate similar to that of the US leader.

The slogan

The slogan of the “andolan” would be “kisana nal insaf karo, sare karje maaf karo.” Such protests would be held weekly and would be attended by senior Congress leaders.

SAD goes hi-tech in poll season
Shows films on party history and programmes; wants workers to inform voters
Our Correspondent

Jagraon, August 20
The Jagraon unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today went high-tech to attract the voters to the party. The local unit of the party organised a high-tech training camp in Jagraon to make its workers and supporters aware of the achievements of the state government during the nine years of its rule.

The party workers were informed about the programmes and policies of the state government led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal so that they can highlight it among the voters. A large number of party workers and supporters from various parts of Jagraon assembly constituency took part in the training programme.

Two films depicting the history of SAD, sacrifices made by the party leadership for the betterment of Punjab, stories about the Morchas organised by SAD to free gurdwaras from the clutches of Mahants and the role played by the party in the freedom struggle were also shown to the party workers on the occasion.

Later, party leaders addressed the workers and supporters and told them to campaign for the party in the forthcoming assembly elections. Speaking on the occasion, Jagraon MLA SR Kaler asked the party workers to pull up their socks and get ready for the poll battle so that Parkash Singh Badal is elected chief minister of Punjab for a sixth time.

“There are many issues like overall development carried out by the government, pro-people plans like Atta-Dal scheme which the party workers can take to the people and ask for votes,” said Kaler.