Prefers being a captain of his ship
Amarinder Singh prefers to be big fish in the small pond, rather than the other way round. Punjab’s former Chief Minister, rather prefers to stay at Patiala or Chandigarh and manage State politics than go to Delhi as one of the many national leaders. He, in fact, admitted that State politics interests him more. The admission came on Thursday during a press briefing in response to a query on his unwillingness to contest the lok Sabha polls. “I have been in national politics from 1982-84, and that politics does not interest me. It’s the State politics that interests me,” said the Patiala Royal. His statement cannot be construed as off-the-cuff remark. The well thought of remarks are meant to give a clear indication to his bête noire Partap Singh Bajwa that he has no intentions of leaving the field clear for him by shifting his base from state to the national capital. His assertion is likely to be a cause of concern for Bajwa. The party’s State president is not contesting parliamentary polls from Gurdaspur, indicating in the process that he is eying the Chief |Minister’s seat.
BJP veteran Shanta shows his experience
A veteran title comes with an experience and maturity and can be said to be true to BJP veteran Shanta Kumar who managed to do what other Central leaders of the party, were not able to do. Central leaders of the party failed to convince Himachal lokhit Party (HlP) chief Maheshwar Singh to join BJP and merge his party. Kumar, whose name was announced for Kangra seat by the party managed to break one of the strong leaders Dullo Ram of HlP and bring him back to party fold. Ram is two-time former MlA and a strong Gaddi tribe leader from Baijnath falling in Kangra parliamentary constituency, whose comeback into the party fold would certainly benefit Shanta Kumar. “We have requested other HlP leaders also to come to fold but am happy that Dullo Ram has joined the party back,” said Kumar.
Steep climb for aap candidate in the hills
Former Cabinet Minister Rajan Sushant, who had left BJP recently to join new sensation of Indian polity, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been declared candidate from Kangra seat. Since the announcement of his candidature, he is facing a unique problem of keeping the party cadres united. Though he is not been given any responsibilities in the party but in his constituency, he is facing rebellion from different factions of the newly floated party. Such is the case that instead of getting to basic of campaigning, he is spending time in Delhi to quell the rebellion in his party at Kangra, in which many have been opposing his candidature. Protests have been witnessed among the AAP members of Kangra districts with allegations and counter allegations flying thick and fast. “Yes, it is an uphill task for Sushant to keep the members united,” said a Sushant supporter.
AAP driven by Women’s empowerment
In Chandigarh, AAP is focussing on women empowerment. A special drive on ‘Women empowerment — A step closer to Swaraj’ was organised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chandigarh led by party’s candidate Savita Bhatti. This awareness-cum-membership drive was conducted outside Government College of Girls, Sector 11. She was supported by the all women team of the AAP Chandigarh during the drive. A part spokesperson said, “We registered 107 members from GCG today in our drive which run for two hours between 11.30 am and 1.30 pm. lots of girls has shown willingness to actively participate in the coming election to support the AAP candidate Savita Bhatti. Apart from this, a membership drive was conducted in woolen Market Sector 38, where 60 members were registered.”
(Contributed by Monika Malik, Manohar lal and Nishu Mahajan)