C N Heard

He ain’t Chander Shekhar Azaad

The “offer” of Chander Shekhar,Director General of Police (DGP),Railways,Punjab,to continue as the inquiry officer in the case of illegal properties belonging to higher-ups was turned down by the High Court on Friday. No sooner the court decided that a new inquiry officer shall be appointed by the state,a police officer seemingly inimical towards Shekhar came out of the court and quipped,“Vada aaya Chander Shekhar azaad banan ( He was trying to become a martyr).”

All is fair

Taking all by surprise,Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal turned up at Sukbir Badal’s “closest friend-turned-foe” Kiranbir Singh Kang’s Mohali residence recently. All those present were eager to know what prompted the octogenarian Akali stalwart to call on former president of the All-India Youth Akali Dal,who was not even on talking terms with the Badals ever since he (Kang) resigned from his prestigious post nine months ago. It was then a veteran politician quipped,“All is fair in love and war”. With Punjab Assembly polls almost a year away,it seems Badal is already gearing up for the “great war”.

Old habits die hard

Though the new PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh is presenting a totally different face in his second innings at the helm of party’s state unit head,he fails to control his aggression,especially against his arch-rivals Badals,whenever the mention of Punjab’s present first family comes in the deliberations. Known for his “Badal bashing” and having sent the Badal father-son duo behind bars during his previous regime,Amarinder,during his recent Mohali visit,though refused to issue any inflammatory speech against Badals. Still he vowed to take revenge with the present rulers for what he alleged as “unleashing vendetta” against Congress workers. Now,how the former CM will square the “vendetta” has really made the powers-that-be “worried”.

Fear ‘Lord Ram’

Manifestation of several interesting analogies were drawn during the recent press conference of the Independent School Association. One such was when the representatives replied to one of the questions on what steps the schools were taking to implement 15 per cent EWS quota. “These days we are busy buying helmets,that too ISI marked ones only,in order to save our heads from the flagellation of Lord Ram.” He did not need to clarify the lines of his analogy as it was well understood by all present that he was referring to Secretary (Education) Ram Niwas and the thrashings and notices issued to private schools every other day.