Chandigarh Confidential

There seems to be no end to cyber woes of People’s Party of Punjab president Manpreet Badal. Though the media advisers versus Manpreet series began when Charanjit Brar switched loyalties to Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal before Assembly polls,it is his more “net-savvy” media advisers who have given Badal more anxious moments. Arunjot Sodhi had even blocked his former boss’ access to the party’s official email id after being thrown out and launched a Facebook offensive against Manpreet. Bakhshinder Singh,who came in next,too has put a post on the social networking website alleging that he has been ousted from the PPP for reasons best known to Manpreet. Like Sodhi,he has alleged Manpreet is neither attending his phone calls nor replying to his e-mails. Next heard is Manpreet is looking for a media adviser with less “networking” skills.

Sleepy ROs?

The preparedness of the Returning officers (ROs) for hurriedly announced panchayat elections in state could be gauged from the fact that many ROs have allotted the symbols of national and regional parties such as Congress,BJP,CPI,CPI (M) and SAD to the candidates even though these elections cannot be fought on the party symbols. Later they rectified this mistake. As Punjab State Election commission has already issued 85 symbols to be allotted to the candidates. “There were many ROs who were asking the name of Punjab state election commission (SS Brar). Even some senior officers at the district level were not aware about the dates for scrutiny of papers and of allotting symbols and were asking each other,” revealed a senior electoral officer.

Kuch to garbar hai!

The recent assault on an IAS officer known for his integrity and no-nonsense approach,sent to coordinate the relief operations in Uttarakhand,has sent the political,bureaucratic and media circles abuzz with guesses on this unsavoury incident as to whether it was the result of an instant reaction amongst the harassed pilgrims or was it pre-planned? The fact that the person who filmed the entire 7-minute episode and uploaded it on the YouTube belongs to Bathinda and is a close relative of a district-level SAD functionary,is a pointer that there is indeed a mastermind,say the observers. It is publicly known that the observations made by the officer on the recent scandal in the printing of school books by Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) had made the minister-incharge unhappy,and if the assault had any connection with his observations,is anybody’s guess.

Maluka’s Moga connection

Things are certainly not going the right way for Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka as after the books scam,his Moga connection has too got him some allegations to deal with. The day supporters of MLA Tota Singh and MLA Rajvinder Kaur entered into a gun fight in Rania village in Moga,the former’s supporter say Minister may be influenced by latter’s group. The reason being Maluka’s sister is married to the cousin of Ajit Pal Singh,who is leading Kaur group in Rania. “I hope Maluka will not act partial in this case,” said Tota Singh on the day of incident.

‘Thankless’ people hurt Tota

Dharamkot MLA Tota Singh is hurt with the behaviour of some fellow SAD MLAs who he believes won the elections “only because of him.” Talking about MLA Rajvinder Kaur,who is spewing fire on him,Singh said,“It was me who got her the ticket and then made her win people’s support because of my influence in Moga. And now she runs a group against me. Can’t believe people can be so thankless.”

United colours of SAD

Displaying true colours of being ‘united’,SAD leaders are doing wonders everywhere. Two such examples were witnessed in Ludhiana when Bains brothers went against their own partymen. While MLA Simarjit Singh Bains jumped into a feud over road project inauguration and met police commissioner supporting an independent councillor Diljit Singh Bhola asking police to act against SAD MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon,his brother too was not far behind. Choosing a separate way,Balwinder Singh Bains organised a separate function against SAD-associated Ludhiana mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria to launch supersuction sewerage cleaning in city. Amazing unity!

Retainer babus

Not only Haryana Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Chaudhery but also Chief Minister’s principal secretary Chhatar Singh has got an extension in their tenure. Chaudhery had been lucky to get extension in one go whereas Singh who was re-employed for three months got another three-month extension. This means end of the road to the chair of the chief secretary for Krishna Mohan who shall retire soon. This has also cut short the tenure of Chaudhery’s successor by six months. Babus in Haryana are now becoming critical of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for extending tenure of retired officers. However,they only discuss the matter within closed groups rather than bringing it on record like the Secretariat employees who had passed a resolution against Hooda’s “no retirement” policy. Either he (the Chief Minister) thinks that all others are nincompoops or the ‘retainers’ are extraordinarily competent.

CM or no CM

Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh adds to the list of Haryana Congress leaders who do not think presence of chief minister is necessary at their functions. Earlier,Union Minister Kumari Selja’s supporter and Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh organised rallies where he did not invite Bhupinder Singh Hooda and when asked he gave more than one reason for not doing so. He accused Hooda of lopsided development. Singh,who was expecting to make it to Union cabinet before being given the short shrift,has announced a rally in August and declared that the Chief Minister was not needed at this rally. Singh who had softened his stand against Hooda after getting the Rajya Sabha ticket is now again fuming as his exclusion from the list of ministers is attributed to the efforts made by Hooda. “Singh’s tantrums are understandable. After all he lost the Assembly elections and had to take the back door entry to the upper house. It is intriguing that on what strength he thought he would be taken in the cabinet,” quipped a Hooda loyalist.

Holy cows

When in Rome,do as the Romans do,goes the saying. Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s Election Campaign Committee chief Narendra Modi might not have subscribed to this during his Madhopur rally in Punjab when it came to food – former BJP MP Vinod Khanna’s wife and mother-in-law were reportedly flown to prepare Gujarati food for Modi – but the grand old man of Punjab politics,Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal left no stone unturned to ensure that Modi felt at home. Even though SAD is dominant alliance partner of BJP in Punjab and generally the ruling dispensation is referred to SAD-BJP government,Badal in his seasoned style chose to call it a BJP-SAD government in his address in the presence of Modi. He also had gathering take note in surprise and laughter when he began his speech by saying Waheguru ji ka khalsa,Waheguru ji ki fateh ,immediately followed by Jai Shri Ram.

Cutting across party lines

Senior Haryana Congress leader Venod Sharma’s son Manu Sharma and INLD’s senior leader Ajay Chautala,both have developed a strong bonding these days while staying in Tihar Jail in Delhi. It has been learnt that both spend a lot of time together in the jail’s library where they not only manage the books but also organise talk shows and debates among the inmates. They have also recently donated Rs 1 lakh each to the Chief Minister’s relief fund for flood affected areas in Uttarakhand. While Manu is convicted on charges of murder,Ajay Chautala is undergoing imprisonment after being convicted in JBT teachers recruitment scam.

Corrupted by language The Punjab public relations department still hasn’t found its dictionary. This time the department sent a press note saying that the state’s vigilance bureau has asked for a list of corrupt officers in the state. One sentence in the press note said,“the departments have been asked to corrupt the officers and send a list”. Now we know where all the corruption among officers is coming from. They are only following instructions!

In dark

Guess who is the only Punjab bureaucrat who has not seen the seven-minute video of assault on IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu’s? Pannu himself! He told a close friend that he simply does not have the gut to see the video. The video went viral and though a case was registered with the cyber crime cell and the police is doing everything to remove it,the video refuses to die down. One of its copies on the website garnered more than 16,000 hits. Though the video is rather uncharitable to Pannu,the comments going with the video are all sympathetic to him. Some good news for Pannu,after all he went through.