Contrasting tales of two neighbouring Punjab Assembly seats

Batala: The neighbouring Assembly seats of Batala and Dera Baba Nanak are good examples of studies in contrast. In Batala, three Congress leaders — Cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, ex-MLA Ashwani Sekhri and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa — are engaged in acerbic turf wars. There are no such battlegrounds in Dera Baba Nanak as Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa is the master of all he surveys. All three leaders want to go one up and as such deliberately or inadvertently stray into each other’s territory in Batala. In comparison, Randhawa is both the king and the kingmaker. He neither interferes in others’ territories nor lets anyone intrude into his own. Partap Bajwa recently got his loyalists appointed as chiefs of the Improvement Trust and market committee, triggering a spate of protests from opponents. In contrast, not a leaf moves whenever Randhawa pushes through a posting or transfer.

Khanna ‘phobia’

Sangrur: Many Sangrur Congressmen have stopped discussing their party affairs with colleagues these days. Reason: There are reports that former Sangrur Congress MLA Arvind Khanna (in pic) is coming back to contest election on SAD ticket. Since a majority of Congress leaders has worked with Khanna, who is likely to join the SAD, many look at each other with suspicion. Khanna ‘phobia’ has surely gripped Congress, SAD and even some AAP leaders. At a majority of meetings, it’s Khanna’s arrival that is the focus of discussions. Though future of all parties is uncertain as farmers have announced opposition to all candidates, many Khanna supporters from various parties have started activities to garner support for him. Some senior leaders of ruling party, having proximity to local minister Vijay Inder Singla, confirmed they were keeping a close watch.

From fisher family to IAS officer

Faridkot: Baba Farid University of Health Sciences’s new Registrar IAS officer Dr Nirmal Ouesppachan (in pic) is a man of high ambition, who walked from a fisher family in Kerala to the Indian Civil Services. He remembers, how his father had to drop out of the MBBS halfway as he did not had money to pay the fee, said Dr Nirmal. “I fulfilled my father’s dream by becoming a doctor and then cracked the civil services examination to become an IAS officer,” he said proudly. “It was my father who helped me realise my dream to become an IAS officer,” said Dr Nirmal.