The adage ‘even the best of friends must part’ may actually come true in case of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Haryana’s former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala. Known as “all weather friends”, the two powerful political families of Punjab and Haryana — the Badals and the Chautalas respectively — have always stood by each other in their worst times. But, it seems, NDA’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s word of advice to 85-year-old Akali veteran may part their ways, at least for this election. Modi, responding to Badal’s proposal to join hands with Chautala’s Indian National lok Dal (INlD), has asked him not to support him, and in fact campaign for his party during 2014 lok Sabha polls — something which has left the five-time Chief Minister in a quandary.
Akali Dal in Chandigarh
“Non-existent” Akali Dal unit in Chandigarh is all excited with more than hundred residents of Dhanas village set to join the party on Thursday. Akali Dal councilor Malkit Singh informed that special ceremony will be held in front of Dhanas Gurudwara where Chandigarh’s party unit in-charge and MlA in Punjab Daljit Singh Cheema will be present other than senior party leader Jagjit Singh Gora Kang, Youth Akali Dal’s Charan Singh Villi, Dhanas village sarpanch Kuljit Singh Sandhu among others.
Sehajdhari Sikhs to support AAP
Claiming to have a huge strength of around 75 lakhs in the three states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, the Sehajdhari Sikhs in these states have decided to go with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The party claimed that AAP would gain a big support from them in the three states in the forthcoming lok Sabha elections. Well, if wishes were horses…
Two ticket aspirants from shimla tied up with a record
Records are meant to be broken but people remember the records which are strange. For Shimla parliamentary constituency Congress has two ticket aspirants. One is Mohan lal Brakta who surprised everyone by winning the Rohru (reserve) Assembly constituency by a record margin of 28,145 votes and the other is Vinod Sultanpuri, son of late veteran Congressman KS Sultanpuri who was never defeated from the Shimla parliamentary seat and represented it for a record six times. Ironically, Vinod Sultanpuri lost his first election from Kasauli Assembly seat by the lowest margin of just 24 votes. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has been advocating for ticket for Brakta while State Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is seeking ticket for Vinod Sultanpuri.
Media savvy chairman
It is said that old habits die hard and this stands true for Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) chairman who at the high pitch of electioneering is trying to make his presence felt by capturing newspapers space. The chairman, whose earlier profession was of a journalist, knows well how to stay in news despite knowing the fact that commission hardly makes any news except during the examination it conducts. Recently he held an informal talk with the journalists which could have been formal had the model code of conduct not came into force and informed that a meeting of heads of state public service commission and UPSC will be held at Shimla but it will be held in 2015 and strangely he held the informal press conference in 2014, a year in advance. Well if that is punctuality, it has to be called strange.
Sukhu, the lecturer for young minds
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu lost the Assembly elections from Nadaun and everyone thought he is now out of race and politically finished but then he became party chief of Himachal Pradesh. Now at the time when Netas in State Government are busy campaigning in their constituencies or lobbying for the lok Sabha tickets, Sukhu can be seen addressing students at different universities and highlighting the achievements and history of Congress. When asked, a Sukhu supporter said that he has been into politics from students days and knows how to catch the young minds. Sukhu has indeed become a lecturer for young minds, said a party leader.