Bathinda, November 13
The stirring of the political pot in Punjab was all too obvious today in Bathinda and Gidderbaha with excitement being palpable for the much awaited Amritsar rally of Manpreet Singh Badal, slated for Sunday. The event itself has all the makings of a political pot-boiler.

Giving an impression of the election days, a number of vehicles, including private buses and swanky SUVs were seen plying on the roads today, with Manpreet’s stickers pasted on the windshields and the rear of the vehicles.

The colourful stickers (in round shape) carry a picture of Manpreet with a message to the masses to join him at Amritsar on November 14 and urges them to help the state get rid of a number of evils bedeviling it.

Without bothering about the fallout, a number of school and college students had also pasted the stickers on the number plates of their two-wheelers. When asked, one of them said, “I have pasted it to give my bike a different look from the others. It is not just me who has a craze for these stickers but many others have it. It is because of this that people give a second look to the rear side of my bike.”

However, the driver of a bus plying with four such stickers at its rear in Bathinda, said, “It was pasted by Manpreet’s supporters as they have hired the vehicle to reach Amritsar late this evening.”

Speaking over the phone, of Manpreet’s brother-in-law, Jaijeet Singh Jojo, who was looking after Manpreet’s home turf—Gidderbaha assembly constituency, said, “We have got the stickers printed in two lots of 25,000 each. Initially, we felt that the stickers would were much more than required but as more and more people are approaching us for these stickers, it seems as we will run short of them.”

Besides stickers, Manpreet’s supporters have reportedly prepared about 50,000 yellow bands, meant for tying on the wrists and the turbans to give them different sense of identity.

The colour of bands was selected, with an attempt to somehow link it with Shaheed Bhagat Singh, as Manpreet is raising issues related to his ideology. “We have packed the bands in two different sizes of packets—six units for people travelling in cars/jeeps and 60 units for people moving in buses,” said Jojo.

When asked about the response of people in Gidderbaha, Jojo claimed that people were very excited as they had hired dozens of buses and cars on their own.

“It was surprising. When we visited a slum area, people there, who generally ask us to make transportation arrangements to attend the political conference at Muktsar Mela, refused to take a single penny and instead informed us that they had pooled in and hired four buses to reach for the Amritsar rally,” claimed Jojo.

Later, it was informed that to avoid any untoward incident, vehicles carrying Manpreet’s supporters had started leaving from Gidderbaha and Bathinda this evening.

Ferozepur, November 13
Sanjeev Godara, political advisor, SAD (B), while alleging that Manpreet Badal has been befooling the people by carrying out false propaganda against CM Parkash Singh Badal and party president Sukhbir Badal, asked Manpreet that he must explain to the people that how and with whose support he got social and political status, which he had been enjoying for the past 15 years.

Claiming that Manpreet has miserably failed to mobilise people for his support, Godara alleged that the main aim of Manpreet was to destabilise the SAD-BJP combine government in Punjab under a deep-rooted conspiracy, which he had hatched with the Congress leadership of state and Centre.

“Can Manpreet explain why he parted company on the issue of subsidy when he himself was the architect of party’s manifesto in 2007 and why he enjoyed all comforts attached to ministership for so long,” asked Godara.

Gidderbaha, November 13
Manpreet Singh Badal’s brother-in-law Jaijeet Singh Jojo late on Saturday evening alleged that the buses ferrying their supporters to Amritsar were being stopped by the police in Gidderbaha to prevent them from proceeding further.

 However, a late night visit to the Gidderbaha police station revealed that no buses had been impounded. SHO, Gidderbaha police station Makhan Singh denied the charge that buses carrying Manpreet supporters had been stopped and impounded. However, a constable posted outside, requesting anonymity, revealed that two or three buses had been stopped by the police in Gidderbaha and at the Kotbhai police station. However, they were later allowed to proceed. Jojo later also alleged that he was apprehensive that the police would lay nakas at night to prevent Manpreet’s supporters from going to Amritsar. SSP Muktsar Inder Mohan Singh, however, could not be contacted as his phone was swiched off. 

Bathinda, November 13
The District Congress Committee (City) and the District Congress Committee (Rural) today burnt effigies of RSS ex-chief KS Sudarshan at separate places in the city. They were protesting his remarks against Sonia Gandhi, the president of All India Congress Committee.

While the city unit, headed by its district president Ashok Kumar, demonstrated at the Arya Samaj Chowk here, the district (Rural) unit, led by its district president Narinder Singh Bhuleria, lodged the protest in front of the main gate of the bus stand here.

The Congress leaders also demanded registration of a case against Sudarshan.

During the protests, the Congressmen raised slogans like ‘Communal forces murdabad’, ‘RSS murdabad’ and ‘KS Sudarshan murdabad’. They also warned the RSS not to level such allegations against their leader Sonia Gandhi in future.

Bhuleria and president of the District Youth Congress Lakhwinder Singh Lakha said the Congress would not tolerate the baseless statements by RSS leaders against the Congress supremo.

At the district Congress (Rural) protest, Congress leaders, including Harinder Mann, Baljinder Thekedar, Kuljit Gogi and Rupinder Bindra, were present while at the district Congress (City) protest, general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) Inder Singh Sahni, PPCC delegates KK Aggarwal and Balwant Rai, and district Mahila Congress president Mohinder Kaur Rani were present.

Meanwhile, the Rajiv Gandhi Lok Bhalai Manch, Bathinda, under the leadership of its chairman Dr Sat Pal Bhatheja, also burnt an effigy of Sudarshan.

Bathinda, November 13
The Millennium School celebrated Children's Day with great fanfare. A special assembly was held to pay tributes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. A dance competition on the theme Bachcha Man ke Sache' was held for kindergarten students followed by a multi-media presentation on Chacha Nehru. A 'Hasya Kavi Sammelan' was also organized. Principal Beena Rao greeted all on the occasion and asked children to get inspired by Nehru's ideals and scale great heights in life.

At the Oxford School, a fancy dress competition was held which showcased a blend of different personalities from different walks of life. Subhra Mukherjee organize dthe function and members of the management president S. Gurmeet Singh Gill, chairman S. Hargurpreet Singh graced the occasion among others.

Sanawar School also celebrated Children's Day on Saturday where Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ravi Bhagat was the chief guest. Divisional Forest Officer SP Anand Kumar and assistant commissioner, Income Tax, Tarundeep Kaur, were the guests of honour. Fancy dress competition and group dance were presented on the occasion. Priya Anand was the judge on the occasion. Principal Ravinder Kaur and president GS Brar represented the school.

Bathinda, November 13
Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa Instutute of Engineering and Technology flourished on the first day of Zonal Youth Fest -2010. S. Natha Singh Makkar, chairman, GTB Education Trust, congratulated students.

Ferozepur, November 13
Members of the district Congress committee on Saturday burnt the effigy of former RSS chief K. Sudarshan in protests against unsavoury remarks regarding Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Gurnaib Brar, president, DCC, who led the protest said no Congressman would tolerate any kind of insult against the AICC president.

He further added that Sudershan should publicly apologise for the same.

Congress leaders including Ajit Singh, Chamkaur Singh, Harinder Singh Dhindsa, Ashok Kumar, Jagjit Singh Gogi besides others were also present on the occasion. The leaders also raised slogans against Sudarshan and RSS.

Bathinda, November 13
Malout Institute of Management and Information Technology (MIMIT) organised its second convocation and first alumni meet on November 11. Dr Rajneesh Arora, vice-chancellor, PTU was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Arora also addressed the faculty on value education and professional ethics through self-exploration. The PTU vice-chancellor delivered a convocation address at the end. Registrar Dr Sanjiv Sharma conveyed the vote of thanks. — TNS

Ferozepur, November 13
Rajneesh Arora, vice-chancellor, Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, today urged the young engineers, who have passed out from the local Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Engineering and Technology (SBSCET) in the past few years, to become entrepreneurs instead of getting into salaried class employee category. As many as 272 students of year 2006-2010 batch were awarded the degrees in their respective bachelor and post-graduate courses. A section of students, who achieved distinctions in their respective streams were awarded meritorious certificates and medals.

Besides Arora, KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, RP Singh Suker Chakia, Director, Khalsa College of Engineering and Technology, Amritsar, Nirmal Singh, principal, MIMIT, Malout and TS Sidhu, principal, local college presided over the function. Arora delivered his speech in Punjabi while all other speakers used English to convey their respective messages. Convener and Dean, Post Graduate Studies and Research, SBSCET, AK Tyagi, delivered the vote of thanks.