electricity as a weapon to hit back at Congress
In days of power shortage and cuts, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal did not miss the opportunity of using the electricity theme to hit back at the Congress. He said that there was a mismatch of fuses in the Congress while hinting at factionalism in the Opposition, while there is one power centre in the SAD — that is him. He quipped, “Here power to every worker of the party flows directly from 128 KV power grid whereas in Congress every worker has to resort to a ‘kundi connection’ to get ‘share’ of their power”.
all that glitters is not gold
All that glitters is not gold for the SAD. During a recent Press conference, connoisseur Sukhbir Badal could not stop patting his own back on his achievement of sifting diamonds from among the rival party members and leaving just the charcoal for them. In the process of self appreciation, Sukhbir perhaps forgot about two of his recently inducted “diamonds” — Mangat Rai Bansal and Joginderpal Jain. While Bansal is serving a jail sentence, Jain was let out on probation. One of the scribes pointed out Bansal’s name to Sukhbir asking him whether he too was a diamond handpicked by him from a pile of charcoal. Of course, the query left Sukhbir dumbstruck. It was only when another scribe came to his rescue that Sukhbir felt at ease. The parting shot by the saviour scribe was that Bansal is indeed valuable, but a “black gold”.
Himachal Pradesh has a Facebook minister
A sports designer wears at almost every occasion and is considered to be the handsome face of politics in Himachal Pradesh. But what keeps him out of the league of stereotypical politician is his Facebook page which is apt and updated as he leaves no stone unturned to keep his public image wrinkle free. His Facebook page is laden with status updates about any developmental work in his area or carries details about his visits within his constituency. Major policy changes in his department and any public statement made by him are also included here. Such is his fan following that people in his constituency now call him the Facebook Minister for his affinity towards online politics.
Minister who never losses an opportunity
Chief Minister aspirant of the yesteryears and now a member of the Rajya Sabha got a taste of bitter pill as his younger counterpart in the district has been promoted over him. The senior Minister, however, put out all the hue and cry about the matter but to no avail. So now, taking the mantle in his own hand, he never losses an opportunity by engaging in publicity stunts like celebrating his birthday at a grand scale or visiting landslide areas on priority basis before others to snatch out opportunity of any publicity from his contemporaries. His recent visit to a landslide affected area came at a time when his junior and his bete noire were in the national Capital and he used the occasion to turn things in his favour.
Elections are on every mind in PU
Panjab University Teachers’ election is scheduled for August 12 and in the wake of this occasion, all the rival groups are trying to tap as much support, they can, in their favour. Few departments like the UICET and Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital are favourite departments as most number of teachers is commissioned here and the aspirants contesting for various seats don’t want to leave any stone unturned to garner as much support they can from these pockets to ensure an easy win. Panjab University is currently the centre of political potpourri as after the teachers’ association election it is the students who are all set to flex their muscles in the political arena.
UT attempts to avert faux pas !!
It seems that UT senior officials are yet to recover from last year’s severe criticism following major faux pas in UT Administrator Shivraj Patil’s Independence Day speech. The daunting task of preparing this year’s speech for Patil gave a hard time to senior UT functionaries who called special meetings to discuss and complete the speech before August 15. The panic and trepidations among UT higher ups were apparent as one of senior UT officials went on to request the reporters not to disturb him this week and let him complete his tough job of preparing speech first.