Will take up Panjab University Senate issue in Parliament, Tewari tells students

Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari, who reached the Panjab University campus to interact with the students protesting outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office against the delay in Senate elections, said he had always been the first one to raise issues pertaining to Punjab and he would be taking up the matter of Senate in Parliament as well. Tewari was accompanied by Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky and Fellow Dayal Partap Singh Randhawa.

“I was the first one to demand in Parliament the reinstatement of Punjabi as one of the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir. I will also not hold back from raising the issue of delay in elections to Senate in Parliament,” Tewari said while interacting with media persons at the protest site.

The Parliament session will start from November 25.

Interacting with the students and some senators at the protest site, Tewari advised them to reach a consensus and demand re-election to the governing body. “The stakeholders should get together and the demand should be put forward to the Central Government,” he said. Some student leaders present on the spot stated that they wanted the authorities to make the Panjab University Campus Student Council president a member of the Senate, on the lines of PUTA and PUSA president.

Tewari had on Wednesday met the Chancellor, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, in Delhi and took up the matter with him.

“The Vice-President conveyed to me that the issue was to his notice,” he told media persons. The tenure of the Senate ended on October 31 and elections have not been notified by the Chancellor.

SECOND AAP MP WRITES TO CHANCELLOR

While leaders. including Punjab Leader of the Opposition Partap Bajwa and SAD leaders on Wednesday targeted the AAP government and CM Bhagwant Mann alleging that they have given the nod to the Centre for diluting democratic structure at PU, AAP Sangrur MP and former minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Friday wrote to Chancellor Jagdeep Dhankhar, terming the delay in elections as undemocratic and requesting for immediate elections to the Senate. He also urged the Chancellor to ensure that no changes are made in the functioning of this institution. A few days ago, Malwinder Kang, AAP Anandpur Sahib MP and former PUCSC president, had also written to the Chancellor.