Manpreet comes up with poll promises

Addresses public meeting at Lal Singh Basti, promises to turn district into an industrial hub like Gurgaon

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 2

Aiming to capitalise on the unrest among residents of the areas across the railway lines, the Congress candidate from Bathinda (Urban), Manpreet Singh Badal, today addressed a public meeting in Lal Singh Basti and promised a number of sops to the voters.The meeting was organised, as promised, by the Bathinda District Congress Committee president, Mohal Lal Jhumba, who is a staunch supporter of Harminder Singh Jassi, who was also a ticket hopeful from this constituency.Manpreet took a dig at the SAD-BJP alliance and accused the leaders of siphoning off the taxpayers’ money.He accused the Badal family of using helicopters, without caring about the high expenditure that they incur.He promised that if voted to power, the Congress would sell off these helicopters and use the money for welfare schemes.Exhorting the voters to “not let go of the chance to bring about a change in power”, he promised that his party would bring the deteriorating law and order situation in the state back on track.Reiterating the promises made by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Captain Amarinder Singh, Manpreet said the party would ensure that one person from each family would get a job and monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500 would be paid till the time job is not given.Deriding the state government for shutting down the state-run thermal plants and rendering many unemployed, he promised that the Congress would ensure that the thermal plants located in Bathinda would be restarted.Targeting the foundation-stone laying spree, which the SAD leaders have undertaken, Manpreet promised that the Congress would initiate and also finish projects rather than just laying foundation stones.“We will end the trend of laying foundation stones to lure voters. We will also ensure that like Gurgaon, Bathinda also turns into an industrial hub, which will generate revenue and jobs for the residents of the region. If the youth are employed, they will never turn to drugs. It will also lower the crime rate in the region,” he said, while addressing another meeting held at Adarsh Nagar. The meeting was organised by Tahal Singh Sandhu.

Leaderspeak

• We will end the trend of laying foundation stones to lure voters. We will also ensure that like Gurgaon, Bathinda also turns into an industrial hub, which will generate revenue and jobs for the residents of the region. If the youth are employed, they will never turn to drugs. It will also lower the crime rate in the region.— Manpreet Singh Badal, Congress candidate fromBathinda (Urban)

‘Questioned’ at function, SAD MP’s men beat up 2 villagers

Residents of Dulowal village protest outside Kotdharmu police station in Mansa on Monday. Tribune Photo

Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Dulowal (Mansa), January 2

Senior Akali Dal leader and Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder’s supporters today allegedly beat up two workers engaged by the Forest Department following an argument over non-payment of their dues.It all started around 3 pm when Bhunder reached the village’s Government Senior Secondary School for distribution of cheques for various grants. Addressing a gathering, he eulogised the developmental works carried out by the SAD government. Objecting to his claims, the workers, Raja Singh and Jalandhar Singh approached the MP claiming their wages had been “siphoned off by some officials”.One among Raja and Jalandhar is learnt to have held the SAD leader by his hand reportedly to put forth his view. Fearing their leader could be manhandled, Bhunder’s men allegedly attacked the two and dragged them to some distance till they were taken into custody by the police.When contacted, Bhunder claimed the villagers were not beaten up, and only heated arguments took place. “They were under the influence of some intoxicant,” he said. Kotdharmu SHO Gurmel Singh corroborated Bhunder’s claim: “The two men were attacked. They were either drunk or were high on drugs and started arguing with the MP.” CPM district secretary Kulwinder Uddat, however, said, “Bhunder’s bogus claim of development did not go down well with the workers, who have been seeking the arrest of the officials who usurped Rs 78 lakh, which was to be paid to them as wages.”“Questioning by workers upset Bhunder during an election programme. He signalled his men to teach them a lesson. The two men were mercilessly beaten up and then dragged in full public view,” said Uddat. Congress MLA from Sardulgarh Ajitinder Singh Moffar came out in support of the villagers: “This is an unfortunate incident. The voters will teach them a lesson.” The villagers later gheraoed the police station seeking the release of the two workers. Their protest was on till the filing of this report.

 

Sensing scam, govt puts lid on utensil kits scheme

Tender was given to company that was involved in books scam

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 2

Sensing a scam worth crores of rupees in the purchase of utensils meant for distribution to panchayats, mahila mandals, NGOs and clubs across Punjab, the state government has cancelled the tender and put off the scheme.The distribution of utensil kits was touted to be a major exercise to woo rural and semi-urban voters.Sources told The Tribune that the tender, floated for Rs 90 crore, to buy 22,500 utensil kits, has been cancelled as just one Sangrur-based company could qualify. The price quoted by the company for supplying these kits was Rs 8,000 per kit more than what a state government authorised committee had evaluated.Rural Development Minister Sikander Singh Maluka confirmed that the tender had been cancelled and the scheme had failed to take off. He told The Tribune that since the price differential was too high, he decided to cancel the tender. “The officers’ committee had quoted a price of each kit at Rs 32,000, while the supplier had quoted Rs 40,000. Though the quality of the kits offered was good, we decided not to go ahead with it due to huge price differential,” he said.Interestingly, the Sangrur-based company, Mittal Traders, is the same company that was involved in the infamous book scam that rocked the state in 2013. This company, selected by a committee of the Education Department, had then supplied practical notebooks to the Punjab State Education Board-affiliated schools at inflated rates. Maluka was at the helm of affairs in the Education Department then.The state government had announced this scheme in the Budget proposals for this year and an initial outlay of Rs 79 crore was made in the Budget for distributing utensils for use in social and community functions. The outlay was revised later to Rs 90 crore.

Akalis’ love for kits

Ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections, 12 steel industrialists from Jalandhar, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Mohali, Patiala, Panchkula, Zirakpur and Ambala were asked to supply 250 kits, embossed with Akali tagline of “Raj nahi sewa” and “Punjab sarkar” on each utensil. The trunks in which kits were packed, had pictures of the CM. The trunks were not even lifted by the government then as it delayed the purchase orders and in the meantime, the poll code was enforced.

 

Bajwas can’t take Qadian lightly

Cong clan faces uphill task in pocket borough

Ravi Dhaliwal

There’s a buzz about Qadian, the international headquarters of the Ahmadiyya community. Of the seven Assembly seats in Gurdaspur district, this one is being discussed the most as it’s the stronghold of the Bajwa clan.Sitting MLA Charanjit Kaur, wife of Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa, has vacated the seat for her brother-in-law, Fatehjang Singh. The latter faces a strong challenge from former Cabinet Minister and Akali veteran Sewa Singh Sekhwan and AAP candidate Kanwalpreet Kakki, a relative greenhorn who led ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’, a campaign to help sugarcane farmers of the region get their arrears.As Partap Bajwa’s prestige is at stake, he will pull out all stops to ensure a victory for his younger brother. Kakki is banking on the youth vote, while Sekhwan, the halqa incharge, has initiated development works to make his presence felt. The Dhanoa Pattan bridge, linking the sugarcane-rich Bet area with the Dasuya and Mukerian sugar mills in Hoshiarpur district, is being cited as a major initiative of the ruling SAD. This bridge, built on the Beas river, is facilitating the movement of sugarcane to the mills.All three candidates will have to contend with the (Sucha Singh) Chhotepur factor. The AAP-turned-APP leader may be trying his luck from the adjoining seat of Gurdaspur, but he still wields influence in Qadian. Pre-delimitation, he had contested from the now-defunct Dhariwal seat, which now forms a part of the Qadian constituency.The other renowned Bajwa family of Qadian is represented by Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who was a two-time MLA from here before delimitation pushed him to the neighbouring seat of Fatehgarh Churian ahead of the 2012 poll. The two Bajwa familes have been at loggerheads for the past couple of decades.Tripat says the town is barely 18 km from Batala, the ‘steel city’ of Punjab, but no allied industry has been established here. “Not long ago, there were a dozen rice mills. Only three are left. The state government has killed the mills with its flawed policies. Our youth have to go to the neighbouring towns of Jalandhar and Amritsar to find employment,” he laments.

SAD fields Bibi Jagir Kaur’s son-in-law from Bholath

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 2

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today named Yuvraj Bhupinder Singh (41), son-in-law of sitting MLA and former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur, as the party candidate from Bholath.The party had withheld the candidature due to an appeal filed by Jagir Kaur in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking stay on her conviction in the case of her daughter Harpreet Kaur’s death.Holding her guilty of forcible abortion, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy, the CBI special court had sentenced her to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in 2012, soon after she had taken oath as a minister following her victory in the Assembly elections. After her conviction and sentence, she was removed from the ministry and lodged in Kapurthala jail.The hearing of her appeal was being put off for the past few months, the next date being January 10.Son of a retired Army Subedar from Raipur Peer Baksh Wala village in Bholath constituency, Yuvraj was a nonentity till he got married to Jagir Kaur’s younger daughter Rajneet Kaur. He is a member of the core committee of the Youth Akali Dal leader and the chairman of the Kapurthala Zila Parishad. He also works as the manager of the dera of Jagir Kaur’s father-in-law Sant Prem Singh Murarewale at Begowal.Earlier called Bhinda, it was Bibi who reportedly named him Yuvraj Bhupinder. “Having faced problems by opposing the marriage of her elder daughter, Bibi readily agreed to accept her younger daughter Rajneet Kaur’s lover as her son-in-law. Yuvraj has been staying at the dera since their marriage in 2003,” said residents of Begowal town.Jagir Kaur had contested the past four elections from Bholath, all against Sukhpal Khaira, who was then in the Congress. She lost to him only in 2007. While Khaira is now the AAP candidate, the Congress ticket has gone to ex-MLA Gurbinder Atwal.Industrialist to contest from Dhuri seatChandigarh: The SAD named industrialist Hari Singh of Preet Tractors as the candidate from Dhuri. The party has now announced 88 nominees. It is yet to name candidates for six seats: Lambi, Jalalabad, Patiala Urban, Mohali, Kharar, and Amritsar South. — TNS

Will contest two seats if Sukhbir does so: Mann

Our Correspondent

Khanna January 2

Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann today said that he would contest from two seats if Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal too decided to contest two seats. Addressing a rally here in favour of party candidate Anii Dutt Phalli, Mann claimed that fearing that he might lose from Jalalabad, Sukhbir was planning to contest from one more place.He flayed Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh for challenging AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to contest from Patiala. He said Amarinder himself should contest from Jalalabad against Sukhbir.In his address, Mann said any of the ongoing welfare scheme would not be discontinued, rather its implementation would be improved, especially the quality of foodgrain under the Atta-Dal scheme.He said after coming to power, AAP would scrap toll tax barriers after a review. He alleged that the people of Punjab were fed up with the SAD-BJP government.

Congress will get majority: Khalsa

Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, January 2

Suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Harinder Singh Khalsa has claimed that the Congress will get absolute majority in the Assembly elections as people who were fed up with the SAD-BJP government are now also disappointed with AAP.Khalsa, who was in the town to distribute cheques to the panchayats in the district for various development works, stated to mediapersons here today.Khalsa said the people in the state were now also fed up with the day-to-day dramas of the AAP and added that the level of political ethics was already low but with AAP it had declined further.On formation of a new party Khalsa said it was not easy to form a political outfit at this juncture and added that no AAP leader had contacted him after his suspension from the party. He said he would support the candidates with a clean image.The MP said Rs 32 lakh had been provided to various panchayats for development works such as construction of streets, drains, dharamshalas and crematoriums. He said besides this Rs 1.99 lakh had been provided to the schools for installation of ROs so that clean and safe drinking water could be provided to the schoolchildren. He added that only Akali and Congress leaders were approaching him for grants whereas none of the AAP leader had approached him for the grants

AAP names Narinder Shergill from Mohali

Mohali, January 2

Narinder Singh Shergill, a resident and former sarpanch of Jhingran Kalan village in Kharar, is the Aam Aadmi Party candidate for the Mohali seat. This was stated by senior AAP leader Kanwar Sandhu.Sandhu said Shergill would contest from the Mohali Assembly constituency on the party ticket.Earlier, advocate Himmat Singh Shergill was selected for the Mohali seat, but he was shifted to Majitha to contest against Akali stalwart Bikram Singh Majithia.“With the selection of Shergill, the party has resolved the internal bickering. It is an open secret that Narinder Shergill was interested in the ticket from Kharar. His supporters were not happy over the decision  to give the ticket to Sandhu,” said a local leader. — TNS

SAD to field ‘heavyweight’ against Capt: Chandumajra

Manish Sirhindi

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 2

Even as mystery over the SAD candidate to contest Assembly poll against Capt Amarinder Singh continues to baffle party cadre in Patiala, SAD general secretary and MP Anandpur Sahib Prem Singh Chandumajra today claimed that the party was planning to bring in an ‘Akali heavyweight’ to contest the elections from Patiala.The statement which could change the equation within the local unit of the Akali Dal is being seen as an indication that the party might not give ticket to Harpal Juneja, who is so far being considered as the ‘obvious’ choice of the party to contest against Amarinder.Following the revelation made by the party general secretary, the political strategists in the SAD could be heard discussing name of Harjit Singh Adaltiwal, who had earlier contested the Patiala bypoll in 2014 on an AAP ticket against former union minister for external affair and wife of Amarinder, Preneet Kaur, but had lost.The fact that he is closely associated with Chandumajra as he had been made general secretary of the Youth Akali Dal’s Patiala Wing in 1982 when Chandumajra was the president and the fact that Chandumajra played an important role in his rejoining the SAD three days ago also turned this discussion into a political strong point.As of now, it was being thought that Juneja, who had visibly increased his presence in the constituency over the last several months, would be given the party ticket from Patiala. However, the delay in announcement of his name even as the SAD has named candidates at most of the seats across the state, has also rendered weight to the fact that party might change its candidate.Other than Juneja, the Kohli clan led by former Akali minister Surjit Singh and his son Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, along with incumbent City Mayor Amarinder Bazaz, are also being thought aspiring for ticket from Patiala. However, all three have been maintaining that they would ‘serve the party in any capacity that the leadership deems fit’.During the last bypoll, the Preneet Kaur royals had defeated the SAD candidate, who was Harpal’s father BD Juneja by a margin of 23,282 votes even as there was the SAD-BJP government in the state. The Patiala seat has been a stronghold of the Congress since 1957. Till date, the Congress has won this seat nine times, while the SAD could win this seat only thrice. Meanwhile, political observers said the SAD seemed to be strategising to create circumstances that might force Capt Amarinder Singh to rework his poll campaign for his ‘home constituency’, where he had not held any rally or political programme till date to woo the voters.

Cong leaders seek change of Atwal’s nomination

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 2

Giving a four-day ultimatum to the Congress high command to change the candidate from the Bholath constituency, party leaders who had been ticket-seekers from the seat said today that they would otherwise be forced to choose an Independent candidate from among themselves.Party leaders Kulwinder Singh Babbal, Pritam Singh Sikri, Avtar Singh Walia and Shriniwas Kuki openly opposed the candidature of former MLA Gurbinder Atwal saying that they would not support him at any cost.“Atwal has no standing in Bholath. He is an outsider. No one knows him there. The party should have rather imposed faith on us as we helped to keep the cadres intact since former MLA Sukhpal Khaira backstabbed us and joined the Aam Aadmi Party. The party should cancel his ticket and announce one among us by January 6 or else we will field an Independent candidate,” said the leaders.The four leaders were also present during a meeting at Nadala called by Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh for building solidarity in the constituency for Atwal post the announcement of Atwal’s ticket. Babbal’s turban was tossed and chairs had been thrown as tempers flared up against the party’s move.Post the incident, Babbal had also got lodged an FIR against Rana and his two aides.Babbal today reiterated his demand of arrest of Rana Gurjeet Singh.“The police booked him on December 26 under non-bailable offences but has till date made no efforts to arrest him as he roams freely”, he alleged.The situation for the party has been getting bad in the constituency and Atwal has not been able to start his campaign since the past 10 days.

Polls at the door, Badals go on mission inauguration

From bus stands to memorials, the Badal government has gone on an overdrive to inaugurate a slew of half­built projects in the past month or so. HT takes a look at some of the projects, which were given the green signal before completion

From page 01 INTERSTATE BUS TERMINUS, SAS NAGAR

This is a dream project of deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal. The first-of-its-kind busopolis in region, this air-conditioned bus stand is spread over 6.6 acres adjacent to the Verka Chowk on the National Highway-21 Cost: ₹500 crore Original deadline: December 2011 Inauguration: Sukhbir Badal inaugurated it on December 16, 2016

Present status: Only Phase 1 is complete. Phase 2, which includes retail outlets and a 10-screen multiplex in Tower A of the complex, will be made operational by June, while Phase 3 will be completed by the end of 2018

CHABHAL BUS STAND, TARN TARAN