Chandigarh confidential

Punjab’s bravery awards

First the post of Punjab Finance Minister had no takers. After all what clout in heading a treasury,which has no money. The joke among ministers is that Parminder Singh Dhindsa accepted the challenge when he was told it was more about keeping his cool than understanding the jugglery of numbers. Both Dhindsa and his principal secretary (finance) Satish Chandra have mastered the art of staying calm. Chandra’s usual visitors are those whose bills have not been cleared by the treasury,but he still manages a good night’s sleep. If Punjab had its own awards for bravery,the two would win hands down.

Bus hijackers

Bus operators of Doaba region particularly small and medium are feeling the heat as their buses are being hijacked by the official machinery particularly by police and transport department every now and then for various political and ‘official’ purposes. They claim that in past two weeks their buses were hijacked twice. First the buses were sent to Bathinda and the reason was not told and then on March 5 again 30 buses were ‘requisitioned’ for taking the policemen to various districts of Majha region including Amritsar and Gurdaspur. “No fare is paid to us as only few litres diesel is provided,which is too insufficient,” they say. “If we raise the issue then the official machinery,particularly police department,threatens us by taking the names of big-wigs. In such a situation how can a small bus operator survive? Why are the buses of big operators not hijacked,” the ask. Any guesses?

Peepli Live at Usma

The nondescript village of Usma in Tarn Taran district,whose only claim to fame was shooting of a Punjabi film last year,saw an almost re-run of Bollywood movie Peepli Live with a number of news channels with their Outside Broadcast (OB) vans reaching here after a girl was thrashed by police officials in full public view. The beeline of politicians visiting the family of the victim added to the village’s fame and woes. It was no surprise then that National Commission for Scheduled Castes vice-chairman,Raj Kumar Verka,had to personally go to the village to record the statement of the victim. In fact,Verka had summoned Tarn Taran DC and SSP to Amritsar in connection with the case. He had also directed that the victim family also come to Amritsar to get their statement recorded. But the SSP said that the victim and her family was busy talking to media. Verka then left for the village to record the girl’s statement.

‘Hypothetical’ Queries

Addressing media persons on a visit to Chandigarh recently,Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh termed a question as “hypothetical”. To this a reporter quipped that this is the standard answer of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Virbhadra should give a different reply. Hooda is known not to answer most of the questions posed to him terming these as hypothetical. On being asked if he would form a committee in the state to co-ordinate with the Centre,Virbhadra quipped that it is his experience that more are the co-ordination committees more is the dis-coordination.

Sound please

More than anything else,it was the disconnecting of a microphone by some lawyers on Thursday,which irked another section of lawyers who wanted to voice their grievances against the “injustice” done to them by the Chandigarh Administration. Left with no alternative,the lawyers climbed on the desk and chairs to make speeches while their supporters were seen making requests for arranging a microphone in the General House meet. Much to their shock,even before they could gather their thoughts,an SMS was flashed by the Executive body of the bar that work will resume from Friday. This slighted the lawyers who turned the finger of blame towards their Executive body for making a unilateral decision and demanded that strike should continue. Anti slogans and inflammatory speeches were then made against “brother” lawyers who were accused of “cheating”. The angry lawyers,who were shouting their lungs out to reach their audience,were relieved when the microphone was fixed.

Karz (debt) analysis

The opposition accused the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government of pushing the state under a heavy debt of over Rs 60,000 crore and also pointed out that the Budget for 2013-14 presented by Finance Minister HS Chhatha was nothing but jugglery of figures. However,the treasury benches gave a smart reply in the government’s defence. A Congress MLA,followed by Chhatha,remarked that “ Voh Jat hi kya je pe karja na ho (he is not a Jat who isn’t trapped under debt).” This was enough to calm down the Opposition,even though for a little while only.

INLD ghost in Assembly

As the senior INLD leaders including Leader of Opposition Om Prakash Chautala,his son Ajay,and Sher Singh Badhshami remained absent from the Haryana Vidhan Sabha’s ongoing budget session,the Congress legislators kept on referring to their absence during debates on various issues. At this,an INLD legislator quipped,“This is nothing but the INLD’s ghost,which is haunting you all (Congress),and you all are scared of the INLD,that’s why you keep referring to our leaders’ absence”.

A see-saw battle

It all started with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala’s rustic taunt. At a time when the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was protesting the scrapping of their adjournment motion on DLF-Robert Vadra land deals and instead listing of Congress MLA Sampat Singh’s motion on whether the INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala should continue as the Leader of the Opposition in the wake of JBT scam conviction. An aggressive Surjewala while reacting on the noise and perceived walkout by the INLD said,“Khagar taade bhi aur bhaage bhi (a bull stares you down but runs away when you confront it). A wounded Abhay Chautala later said: “Surjewala ke to lagta hai sarkar ne aise spring fit kar dye hain ke yeo har baat pe hi uchhal parta hai (Seems that the government has fixed some sort of spring on to Surjewala that he jumps at everything). Well,it’s Surjewla’s turn now!

Eggs from CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) observations on the land release to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust rocked Haryana Assembly. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) suddenly got a new ammunition to attack the treasury benches. As both sides launched offensives and counter offensives,it was Finance Minister HS Chatha whose banter seemed to have been picked from a laughter show. He said,“Ohji,ki hoya? CAG report,CAG report? Je CAG ne report de di hai,humein mil gayi hai to table kar denge,sanu koi report ne aande dene hai? (What’s this noise on CAG report? If CAG has submitted the report and we have got it then we will table it also. It’s not going to lay eggs for us).”

No rubbing salt

Call it respect or sycophancy,but Moga Congress president Jagdarshan Kaur made sure that their ‘Maharaj saab’ is not hurt or embarrassed even a bit while facing Moga leaders immediately after he was replaced by Pratap Singh Bajwa as PPCC president. Kaur,made sure that nobody from Moga Congress discusses or even mentions it in front of Amarinder when they went for a lunch hosted by the latter in Chandigarh. “Everyone,be it a common man or Maharaj saab,will feel bad and will not be in a mood to discuss about such an issue. It really hurts when a person is removed from such a high designation and we made sure no one mentions it in front of him and nor did he expressed anything,” said Kaur. Indeed the maharaja treatment !

Tewari flexes muscle

While in union budget,the textile industry from Ludhiana got more than what they had expected,the bicycle industry was left high and dry. The textile associations had given their demands to Union Minister Manish Tewari and even had met Finance Minister P Chidambaram along with Tewari. The bicycle industry delegation had met the PM along with CM Parkash Singh Badal in January and were expecting some announcements in the budget. When a few members of United Cycle Parts and Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) met Tewari at Ramgarhia College and handed over the same memorandum to him which they had given to the PM,he accepted it and assured to look into their demands,but not before throwing a barb at them for approaching Centre through the CM.

Smile Please

During the swearing in of Gulzar Singh Ranike as Punjab Cabinet Minister at the Raj Bhawan,several people were present whose sole aim seemed to get pictures clicked with the ministers who were present. While Ranike was much in demand among those who wanted to be clicked,the other ministers present also willingly obliged. Singer Hans Raj Hans,who was present on the occasion,also found himself surrounded by those capturing him in their mobiles.