Punjab Diary: All not well in Congress

PCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring has been constantly aiming his statements at those leaders who have not comfortably accepted his position as the state party chief. At a recent ceremony to seat the Kapurthala district party chief, Warring said so far only 12 leaders who worked against the interest of the party had been expelled from the party. Warring’s statement becomes important in light of changing equations within the party as leaders like Manpreet Badal, Shamser Singh Dullo and Mohinder Kaypee met Navjot Singh Sidhu in Patiala jail, ahead of reports of pre-mature release of the crickter-turned-politician from Patiala.

Minister left red-faced

Muktsar: Recently, a video of an AAP worker criticising the state government in the presence of Cabinet Minister Dr Baljit Kaur in Malout Assembly constituency has gone viral. The minister was visiting the village for her public meeting programme. Amidst the crowd, a youngster alleged that a Revenue Department official had sought bribe from him. He said, “I am an AAP worker. We had no issue with the SAD or Congress leaders, but we chose you. You should fulfil the promises made during the election campaign as the AAP has been in power for nearly 10 months now.”

Carrying baggage

Pathankot: The second visit of the erudite Kavita Khanna, wife of ex-MP and film icon Vinod Khanna, within a month to her husband’s former constituency had tongues wagging. Everything and anything she does these days acquires political contours. This may be because in the 2017 by-poll and the 2019 elections, she was a BJP candidate. She still carries that baggage. When asked if she would come to vote even if she is not a candidate, she replied, “I would like to vote for the best man but the problem is the best man is never a candidate.” Meanwhile, the guessing game is still on.

Novel way to promote Punjabi

The world’s one of only two universities named after a language, Punjabi University, Patiala, has taken a step for the promotion of Punjabi. In tandem with the state government’s efforts to promote the language, the University wants students to write their applications ‘positively’ in Punjabi. Though applications written in English and other languages are welcome as of now, the University says it wants to ensure a culture of writing in Punjabi among all. “Therefore, we have spread a message among the students through word-of-mouth to write their applications only in Punjabi”, the University said.

‘AC’ jibe at CM Mann

Jalandhar: While hosting deceased Nakodar trader Timmy Chawla’s wife Savinder Kaur meet with the press on Saturday, BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia took a jibe on CM Bhagwant Mann for not having met the family and tweeting about them. Kalia said, “Mr CM, please get out of your AC room and come to Nakodar to meet the family and express your condolences.”

Not so tech-savvy MLAs

The babus of Punjab have a new problem at hand… dealing with not so tech-savvy MLAs of the ruling party. Maur MLA Sukhvir Singh Maiserkhana took to social media to say that he could not understand why he was neither receiving nor was he able to make any calls from his mobile for the past 9-10 hours. “All my friends having the mobile connection of the same company are getting and making calls. I have brought it to the notice of the Bathinda DC,” he had said in a post widely circulated on social media. Hilariously, it was later found that he had unknowingly put his phone on flight mode!