Around 1.76 crore voters will seal the fate of 1,078 candidates, including the two chief ministerial aspirants Parkash Singh Badal of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party and Amarinder Singh of opposition Congress, in fray for 117 assembly seats in Punjab where polling will take place on Monday amidst tight security.
With six days to go for state assembly polls in Punjab, political parties have intensified their campaign in the state. The outgoing ruling alliance of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Bhartiya Janata Party is banking on Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and L K Advani to regain the power in the state.
A recent pre-election survey suggests that AAP may win 53 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly and reduce the Congress to just 43.
Senior advocate Anmol Rattan Sidhu has resigned from the post of advocate general of Punjab citing personal reasons, while criminal lawyer Vinod Ghai is set to succeed him.
For Sikhs, they say, honour is the bottom line; and whatever the state of the SAD's political fortunes today, arrogance will not be helpful in the negotiation.
'It will be a mistake to imagine that Sidhu will be a permanent feature of the Congress' Punjab scene,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Ahead of Assembly polls due early next year in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that political strategist Prashant Kishor's Indian PAC will manage the poll campaign of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital.
Prashant Kishor expressed the view that the recent 'chintan shivir' could not achieve "anything meaningful".
He said, Kejriwal was dreaming of becoming the CM of every state he visits.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance released its manifesto for the February 20 Punjab polls on Saturday, promising a slew of sops for various sections, including 75 per cent reservation in all government jobs for youngsters from the state, an unemployment allowance, 35 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and massive infrastructure development.
Asserting that he will not let Punjab plunge into anarchy at any cost and nobody can be allowed to take the law into their hands, the chief minister said he has been forced to toughen his stance as his repeated appeals to perpetrators of such acts had been ignored.
The other main contender for the party's CM face was Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Jat Sikh face.
The chief minister has also directed Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta to look into the possible action that could be initiated against one of the film's producers, K V Dhillon, who had reportedly promised in writing, back in 2019, that he would shelve the movie, originally titled 'Sukha Khalwan'.
Sources said Sidhu's resignation has not been received by the party and its leadership will take a call once it reaches them.
Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu met party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday morning, and is learnt to have discussed his role in the revamp in the party's state unit ahead of assembly polls.
Jakhar, the former president of Punjab Congress, said the party had never named its CM face adding that it was only an exception that the Congress high command had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls.
In a reprieve for Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, a local court in Mohali on Friday acquitted him along with his wife, son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and eight others in a seven-year-old corruption and disproportionate assets case. The case was filed against them during the Amarinder Singh-led Congress regime. Additional District and Sessions Judge R K Aggarwal acquitted 11 of the 15 accused, saying no incriminating evidence was available.
The former chief minister was expelled from the House on September 3, 2008, for "breach of privilege" after a resolution was passed on the basis of the report of a special committee appointed by the Punjab assembly on the alleged irregularities.
Sidhu made the sharp retort amid speculation that the former cricketer is himself eyeing the top post if the Congress wins next month's assembly polls.
In a major fillip to the Congress in poll-bound Punjab, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur on Monday joined the party along with former Akali MLA Pargat Singh.
The Congress is banking on decisions like reducing electricity tariff and fuel prices, taken during current CM Charanjit Singh Channi's 111-day tenure.
Badal and his family members are facing trial under the Prevention of Corruption Act for acquiring assets disproportionate to their known sources of income by misusing their official status. A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Mr justice R V Raveendran, however, refused to stay the trial.
'We were ready to drink the poison of the Congress, but the statements show that the Congress is still seeped in its arrogance'
The 2012 assembly poll was seen essentially as a battle between the two leading families of Punjab -- the Badals versus the 'Captain' Amarinder Singh -- and their durbars, their contending styles, the rebels they had to reckon with, their grip over the ground realities. Neerja Chowdhury reports.
The 2012 assembly poll was seen essentially as a battle between the two leading families of Punjab -- the Badals versus the 'Captain' Amarinder Singh -- and their durbars, their contending styles, the rebels they had to reckon with, their grip over the ground realities. Neerja Chowdhury reports.
It is a predominately Akali stronghold district.
The BJP is upbeat about fielding Sidhu as its nominee because he has the ability to carry with him four assembly seats in the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.
The leading ladies of Patiala royal family are sparing no efforts these days in gleaning voters' support for their men, who are in the fray from this crucial parliamentary segment in Punjab. The 117-constituency strong state assembly goes to polls on January 30.
The police have a list of 23 witnesses, including four official gunmen of Kartar Singh, of the incident, which took place on October 23, 2006.
On his meeting with General Bajwa, the Congress leader said, "On his meeting with General Bajwa, Sidhu said, "I again want to make it clear that this meeting took place in Islamabad at a time when Gen Bajwa reached the venue of swearing-in ceremony." "He met me with enthusiasm after seeing me sitting in the first row. Immediately, he told me that they were making efforts to open the corridor from India's Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib, which is about 3 to 3.5 km in Pakistan, to facilitate the pilgrims to pay obeisance on the occasion of 550th 'Prakash Diwas' of Guru Nanak Dev ji."
Information can be provided on the Punjab Police helpline -- 181, officials said, adding the identity of the informer will be kept a secret.
Sukhbir was having none of that. He saw Manpreet taking the V P Singh route to oust him (in the interests of austerity, Manpreet drives his car himself, has minimal security and refuses to touch cashew nuts offered to ministers at public functions, according to newspaper reports from Punjab).
At a meeting convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on a range of issues ahead of Monsoon Session of Parliament, the seven chief ministers unanimously agreed to the need for filing a review petition urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent order rejecting the postponement of the competitive exams.
The Dhuri assembly seat is presently represented by Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy.
The high-voltage campaign for the February 4 assembly elections in Punjab came to an end on Thursday evening following hectic campaigning by various political parties.
Punjab's daily COVID-19 count has been relatively low and on Tuesday, 635 new cases were recorded which pushed the active tally to 4853.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Monday Punjab CM AQmrinder Singh said that the state congress committee had not approached Dr Singh with any such proposal.
India's assessment is that the Kartarpur project was being implemented with alacrity and military zeal under the supervision of the Pakistan army as it has the strategic objective to use the corridor to encourage separatism in Punjab, say government sources.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also took exception to the jathedar's statement and dubbed it as "mischievous".
