Jalandhar, August 11
Even as BJP senior leaders have been finding themselves in a piquant situation trying to figure out the most suitable candidate for the mayor’s post, the decision seems to have become even more complex with many more joining the race for the hot seat now.

While earlier there were just three contenders who had openly expressed their desire to be at the post, now there have been similar indications from three second-time councillors from the party. Joining the fray are Pawan Kumar Gupta, councillor from Ward 24 and son of former MLA Raj Kumar Gupta, Harbhajan Singh Takhar (Ward 41) and Manjinder Singh Chatha 
(Ward 15).

Their contention is that while the three councillors who are already under consideration, including BJP district president Shiv Dyal Chugh from Ward 33, state secretary Rakesh Rathore from Ward 20 and district secretary Ravi Mahendru from Ward 38, were all first-time winners in the poll.

A buzz has also been around on appointing a woman mayor this time, especially with members of the district bar association raising their voice on the issue. Since all the women councillors elected this time are first timers, there seems little possibility of any such likelihood.

The second-timer women, including Sushma Gautam and Saroj Malhotra, have lost the poll from Wards 34 and 31, respectively.

There are many newly elected women councillors from the party, including Rimpi Prabhakar, Kamaljit Kaur, Anita Dheer, Yogita Gupta and Mamta Sharma from Wards 4, 16, 19, 25 and 28. Independent councillor from SC Ward 52 Meena Kumari, who had defeated Sunil Kumari Bhagat, too joined the BJP a day after the poll results.

A meeting of the newly elected BJP councillors was held today at a hotel late this evening. The meeting was convened by Rajinder Bhandari, state president of the party. Before addressing the meeting, Bhandari told The Tribune that the purpose of the meeting was to congratulate the new team and to be face-to-face with them. He said that a meeting for discussion on appointment of the mayor would be convened by other senior members of the party in the next four to five days.

Meanwhile, the three top contenders of the post, Chugh, Rathore and Mahendru, reportedly continued lobbying for the post with party’s heavyweights. Chugh has been trying to claim the post on his seniority basis, Rathore is said to be boasting of his connections with MP Navjot Sidhu and former Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Mahendru has been lobbying through local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia, with whom he has been closely associated.

Jalandhar, August 11
Hundreds of residents of Globe Colony, Shashi Nagar and several other surrounding localities had to suffer as their areas remained without electricity for over five hours on Friday night.

Unavailability of electricity added to the woes of the city residents who were already facing the brunt of heat. The power supply was snapped at around 11 at night and was restored at around 4.30 in the morning.

Complaining about the inconvenience caused, most of the residents said that they could not sleep properly due to failure of power.

Gopi said, “After waiting for an hour, I made a call at Jalandhar circle complaint number 2235615 to lodge a complaint. But the person attending the phone asked me to contact the complaint centre at Industrial Area, PSEB, and gave me a mobile number (9872516774).”

When Gopi called up this number, the attendant said PSEB employees, including Junior Engineer (JE) Punjab Singh, were already in the field to find out the fault.

The attendant gave Gopi a mobile number (9872516258) of JE Punjab Singh and asked him to contact JE to know the latest position. However, JE’s mobile was found to be switched off initially and later the JE did not answer the call.

Meanwhile, PSEB employee Gulshan said the wires had been burnt at some places.

“The Punjab government should also follow suit as tobacco is claiming so many lives in the region. We, however, doubt that the SAD-BJP government can impose the ban, since Parkash Singh Badal had taken party funds from a tobacco company and had not even denied it. We would be forced to chalk out a concrete programme in this regard if the SAD-BJP government fails to make Punjab a tobacco-free state,” he said.

Hoshiarpur, August 11
Unidentified robbers murdered an aged couple at their residence in Mohalla Tibba Sahib on Friday night.

The deceased have been identified as Amarjit Kaur (65) and her husband Gurmail Singh (70).

According to SSP Anita Punj, some unidentified robbers entered the house by scaling the boundary wall.

The murderers killed the couple by strangulating them with towels. Injury marks were also found on the faces. All the household articles were found scattered in the room.

The bodies of the deceased had been sent to the civil hospital for a post-mortem examination, the SSP said.

Gurmail Singh was an ex-employee of Punjab roadways and had suffered a paralytic attack some time ago. His wife had returned to India a few months ago after visiting her daughter in the UK.

The couple is survived by son Yashpreet Singh, presently in Canada, and daughter Tejinder Kaur, residing in the United Kingdom.

The SSP said on a complaint of Balbir Singh, sewadar of Gurdwara Tibba Sahib, a case under section 460 of the IPC has been registered.

A special campaign has been launched to nab the culprits. Some suspicious persons had been rounded up for interrogation. Raids were being conducted in the Subhash Nagar, Tibba Sahib, Dagana road, Piplanwala and Singriwala areas.

The police was looking for a Nepali youth, watchman of the area, who has been missing since last night.

Phagwara, August 11
The Chief Minister’s announcement to appoint politicians as chairpersons of the improvement trusts and market committees in the state by this month-end has kicked off a lobby within the SAD and BJP camps.

The Akalis, who are aspiring for these posts, have started knocking at the doors of their political godfathers to approach either the Chief Minister or SAD acting chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The same is the story in the BJP where most of the aspirants have started approaching their party bosses as well as the RSS. It has been learnt that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will soon summon a joint coordination committee meeting to share these posts among the ally parties.