From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade.
Three days after a teenage girl was molested and pushed to her death from a moving bus in Punjab's Moga district, her relatives have refused to perform her final rites till the time the proprietors of the company that owned the vehicle are booked.
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
The Aam Aadmi Party MLAs spent the night in the state legislative assembly building demanding copies of the Bill which the state's Congress government is now expected to introduce on Tuesday.
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Sikhs bravely fought the 1962, 1965, 1971 wars and the Kargil battle, but no helmet issue arose then.
Sirsa has been a prominent face of the Akali Dal in the national capital and was a strong supporter of the farmers' protests against the three contentious farm laws. He said he will continue to work for Sikh causes.
As state-level leaders tried to placate Sidhu, he made it clear through the video that he was in no mood to budge on his 'principles'.
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.
Reacting sharply to the statement of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi that seven out of 10 youth in Punjab are drug addicts, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukbir Badal termed him a joker' on Friday.
Seven Congress legislators and three Aam Aadmi Party MLAs who recently switched over to the ruling party also said Navjot Singh Sidhu was a celebrity and was no doubt an asset to the party but condemning and criticising his own party and government in public has only created a "rift in the cadres and weakened it".
Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Shivraj Patil on Friday administered the oath of allegiance to Justice (retired) Jai Singh Sekhon as the Lokpal of Punjab at a brief ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as well as family members of Justice Sekhon were among others present on the occasion.
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.
Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to take Punjab's close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, with a one-to-one meeting with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday, said an official spokesperson.
Election rallies have been on for weeks, but nothing captures the immediacy of an election like the sight of candidates filing their nomination papers.
A tragic train accident in Amritsar on Friday took a political turn with the Opposition accusing the state's Congress government for lapses in allowing celebrations near railway tracks.
The Congress vice president also accused Delhi CM of "helping" forces who want to disturb Punjab's peace and push it back to the dark days of militancy.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday allocated portfolios to the new ministers, keeping 14 departments with himself and giving home affairs to deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and health to other deputy O P Soni.
A case of murder has been registered against six persons and one of the accused is also a Dalit.
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.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Tuesday accused Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa of hatching a conspiracy against him and dubbed registration of case against him as 'political vendetta.'
Though the Congress lost the battle in 2007 to the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, it hopes to regain power in Punjab this year. The party, which is banking on the anti-incumbency factor, believes it "will throw Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Bhartiya Janata Party out of power".
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.
Sidhu took to Twitter on Sunday, making public his resignation letter dated June 10 addressed to Congress 'president' Rahul Gandhi.
The three-member panel, set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to end factionalism in the party's Punjab unit, submitted its report to her on Thursday and is learnt to have recommended suitable accommodation of former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, setting up of coordination committee and filling vacant posts in the organisation.
Sidhu in a press conference on Friday had questioned the Channi-led state government over the steps taken for the delivery of justice in the cases of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and drug trafficking.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said the Congress would root out the weeds in the form of the Akali-Bharatiya Janata Party combine.
The 58-year-old surrendered shortly after 4 pm, and was taken for the mandatory medical examination, conducted at the Mata Kaushalya Hospital.
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.
Even as there is a strong anti-incumbency mood in Punjab, the multi-cornered contest has made the 2017 assembly polls prediction more difficult.
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.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
'My fight is issue-based and I have stood by it for a long time. There can't be any compromise on a pro-Punjab agenda'
The two parties, however, are in a neck-and-neck race in Manipur and Goa.
A look at licensed distilleries shows that many have connections with politicians and influential business families. Among politicians, a minister owns a distillery. Two others are owned by ex-Congressman Venod Sharma and ex-Akali MLA Deep Malhotra.
Majithia had surrendered after the February 20 state assembly polls and is currently lodged in a Patiala jail.
The scion of erstwhile Patiala Royal family refused to comment on the number of ministers who will be part of the new cabinet.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is Leader of the House, moved a resolution in the assembly saying that his state is facing "crisis of water" and does not have even one drop to share with others.
The provisions exempt farmers from attachment of land up to 2.5 acres and provide for prevention of hoarding and black marketing of agricultural produce.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances