The Congress' top leadership realises the former cricketer's utility and mass appeal. His oratory skills and ability to whip up mass hysteria in election rallies is acknowledged as an asset
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi termed Friday's attack reprehensible, and said the only known antidote to bigotry is love, mutual respect and understanding.
Sidhu, who had been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, had stayed away from all Congress activities ever since he resigned as cabinet minister last year.
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Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and said his state is ready to bear all expenses for the safe return of Punjabis kidnapped presumably by Islamic militants in oil-rich Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal expressed his gratitude to Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh for his efforts in cleaning polluted rivers in the state. Badal appreciated the central minister's efforts through a unanimous resolution adopted by the state assembly on September 30, which thanked Ramesh for his "whole-hearted assistance to the scheme to make the state of Punjab pollution free."
The party desperately needs another state where, unfettered by the Centre, it can fly its flag.
Modi flagged off the first batch of pilgrims led by Akal Takhat Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib through the corridor, which was thrown open days ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on November 12.
Under flak from the opposition for 'diverting' Covid vaccines to private hospitals to make a profit, the Punjab government on Friday asked them to return all stock meant for the 18-44 age group.
Asked whether the SAD would pull out of the National Democratic Alliance as well, Harsimrat said it was for the party to decide and a collective decision would be taken on the issue by all senior leaders together.
Three key agriculture Bills, approved by the Lok Sabha, are facing staunch opposition from within the ruling coalition with senior minister Harsmirat Kaur Badal resigning in protest and farmers hitting the street.
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.
Sources said the Telangana chief minister was busy with preparations for the launch of his ambitious Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project that would end water woes in the state, while in a letter to Modi, the West Bengal chief minister had expressed her inability to attend the Niti Aayog meeting on June 15, saying it is "fruitless" as the body has no financial powers to support state plans.
Noted educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya was on Monday posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
Even a shortened Indian Premier League with just Indian players would be good enough in these "extraordinary times", Rajasthan Royals CEO Ranjit Barthakur said on Wednesday, revealing that a final call on the glitzy event's fate is unlikely to be taken before April 15. The top executive spelt out his franchise's wish even as the number of positive cases and death toll due to the pandemic continued to rise across the world.
A handwritten note in Punjabi, purportedly left behind by the deceased, says he was unable to bear the "pain of farmers".
Joginder Tuteja looks at Bobby Deol's career over the years.
'We are under pressure from officials and confined to our home while the media has also been disallowed from meeting us'
The BJP stalwart's body was later brought to his residence at Kailash Colony.
Rahul's babalog have forged an alliance that is now formidable. This is a challenge to older congress MPs. Second-timers and third-timers cannot be very happy with this development
'The honourable prime minister virtually handpicked me for the Amritsar East seat.' 'Amit Shahji announced that if I am elected, the whole of Punjab will be drugs free.'
The Centre on Friday sought a report from the Punjab government on the botched surgeries at a non-profit organisation-sponsored camp where at least 60 people lost their eyesight even as the state ordered a high-level probe into the incident in Gurdaspur.
Ajinkya Rahane has been named as the new skipper of the IPL team.
"Let me explain to you that we were not trapped by your 'googlies'. Our two Sikh Ministers went to Kartarpur Sahib to offer prayers in the Holy Gurudwara", she said.
Her speech was laced with Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and even Tamil verses.
Kevin Pietersen proposed a 'condensed' league behind closed doors for one of cricket's biggest money-spinners, adding the fans shouldn't be risked. The IPL is important not just for players and franchises, but also for the people working behind the scenes, and this was not lost on Pietersen.
A galaxy of top leaders, including Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari and leaders of BJP's allies such as Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shiromani Akali Dal supremo Parkash Singh Badal and Lok Janshakti Party founder Ram Vilas Paswan were present with Shah.
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According to a study by Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Punjab, every year, 18 per cent of fruits and vegetables worth Rs 44,000 crore (Rs 440 billion) are wasted.
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Constitution amendment bill to restore the power of states to make their own OBC lists after a thaw in the logjam as Opposition parties backed the legislation but demanded the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation, with many of them also calling for a caste-based census.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Punjab was allegedly thrashed and his clothes torn by a group of farmers at Malout in Muktsar district on Saturday, police said.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said the Congress would root out the weeds in the form of the Akali-Bharatiya Janata Party combine.
Fifteen people were injured on Wednesday as Sikh activists protesting against the alleged desecration of their holy book clashed with cops.
While there is no change in the strength of the Modi-led CCPA over its two tenures, what has changed is its profile.
Australia spin legend Shane Warne was named as the brand ambassador of Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming 12th editon of the Indian Premier League.
Farmer outfits on Friday started mobilising more batches of peasants from Haryana and Punjab to head towards Delhi's borders to join the ongoing agitation against agri laws, even as political parties such as the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Indian National Lok Dal threw their weight behind them.
Here's a look at some of the other darbars in the hard-to-please city of Amritsar, known for its appetite for food and drink and its insolent humour:
