#RegionalJournal: Untold stories from the provinces

Poll rivalry continues

The poll rivalry between Congress leader Gurjeet Singh Aujla and AAP minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, has not relented. Both of them are trying to outdo each other on emotive public issues. Aujla rushed to makeshift shops and kiosks of migrants, which were set on fire by some miscreants. Similarly, he reached the house of Tejpal Singh, who was killed fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine. He was also quick to land in a hospital where an NRI of Punjabi origin was hospitalised after being attacked in Himachal Pradesh’s Dalhousie. Following suit, minster Dhaliwal reached all of them on the next day of Aujla’s visits. It sets speculation among the public that both of them continue to keep each other on the toes.

Sunny Deol’s missing file

Five years ago, when actor Sunny Deol contested the parliamentary poll from Gurdaspur, he spent Rs 78 lakh as poll expenses against the prescribed limit of Rs 70 lakh. This amounted to an alleged corrupt practice under Section 123(6) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. As per Section 8(A) of the Act, an MP can be disqualified in such a case. A complaint was filed by a Congress leader with the District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer. But Deol escaped being disqualified. Interestingly, nobody in the district administration knows for sure where the file pertaining to the complaint has gone. The issue seems to have died a natural death because the complainant, then a Congress man, is now with the BJP.

Waqf Board’s gift

CONSTITUENTS of various Muslim outfit of the region, including mosques, madrasas, Islamic educational and healthcare institutes, are jubilant over the Eid gift from the Punjab Waqf Board. It has announced various grants worth Rs 3.5 crore on occasion of the Eid-al-Adha. All employees of Islamic outfits were paid Rs 5,000 each for celebrating the festival of sacrifice.

Farmers’ sweet revenge

The defeat of former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni from the Kheri Lok Sabha constituency in UP came as sweet revenge for the farmers. “We had expected that the Modi government would drop Teni from the Union ministry. But, when the government failed to do so, we did that by ensuring his defeat in the Lok Sabha poll,” said farmer activist Gurucharan Singh. “It was a silent campaign. Activists of four farmer unions reached out to farmers cutting across caste lines. Our workers remained confined to their respective villages, otherwise it could have become a local versus outsiders issue,” said farmer leader Guramneet Mangat.

Amethi MP welcomed

Kishori Lal Sharma, 62, of Ludhiana, is MP-elect from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. It took not less than four decades for Kishori to become a giant killer from a Sewa Dal worker. A Gandhi family loyalist had been camping in Amethi since 1984 when he was called to work in the maiden election of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Having worked for and seen Rajiv winning thrice, Sonia Gandhi once and Rahul Gandhi thrice from the Congress stronghold, Kishori was the Congress’ surprise pick this election after Rahul had lost the 2019 poll. But this Ludhiana native took revenge of Rahul’s defeat by pipping the BJP heavyweight and Union minister Smriti Irani by a convincing margin of around 1.67 lakh votes. Back home after the election for the first time, Ludhiana threw a grand reception for “its own” Amethi MP and “giant killer” Kishori, who remains as humble as he was before.

Contributed by Neeraj Bagga, Ravi Dhaliwal, Mahesh Sharma, Deepender Deswal & Nitin Jain