M A I N   N E W S

Ashwani invites Badal to function; ‘ignored’ Congress camp sulks
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, October 5
Former Union Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ashwani Kumar surprised many today by leaving out PPCC chief and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa and all five sitting Congress MLAs of the district from the inauguration ceremony of an old age home conceived by him.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal inaugurated the Multi-facility Elder Retreat Home at Jeevanwal Babri village, 5 km from here. Ashwani has donated money from his MPLAD fund for the project. Bajwa questioned Ashwani’s wisdom in inviting Badal to the ceremony and ignoring his party leaders.

“He could have inaugurated the project himself or invited the Governor or a Union Minister. Being a Congress leader, he ethically had no right to invite the Chief Minister. On the one hand, we are fighting the Akalis, on the other he is playing into the hands of SAD leaders,” said Bajwa.

The MP’s decision not to invite his own party MLAs has created a flutter in the Congress circles.

The five MLAs who belong to the district are: Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (Dera Baba Nanak), Tripit Rajinder Singh Bajwa (Fatehgarh Churian), Aruna Chowdhury (Dinanagar), Charanjit Kaur Bajwa (Qadian) and Ashwani Sekhri (Batala).

Sources say only 100 invites were sent out for the function. Randhawa, who is also the Gurdaspur District Congress Committee president, was invited to a dinner at the MP’s Gurdaspur residence last night, but was not extended an invite for the function. The legislators privately expressed their displeasure at the way they had been “politically isolated in their own backyard”. Ashwani could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.