Punjab Director General of Police N P S Aulakh has been appointed as the new chief of the elite National Security Guards and will assume charge on March 1. Aulakh, a 1972-batch officer of the Indian Police Service, will replace J K Dutta who is retiring on Saturday, official sources said on Friday. He was appointed the Punjab DGP in March 2007 after the formation of Shiromani Akali Dal Bharatiya Janata Party combine government in the state. Aulakh is to retire in August 2010
Mann is a Lok Sabha member from Sangrur constituency in Punjab.
"It is high time India traded dynasty for meritocracy. This would require fundamental reforms, from imposing legally mandated term limits to requiring meaningful internal party elections, together with a concerted effort to educate and empower the electorate to choose leaders based on merit," Tharoor said.
The biographical drama is caught up in controversy after some Sikh organisations including the Shiromani Akali Dal objected, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.
The Congress is likely to declare its chief ministerial face for Punjab on February 6 when former party chief Rahul Gandhi will visit the poll-bound state, party sources said.
Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut says she was forced to sell off her property in Mumbai after the release of directorial venture Emergency was postponed due to delay in getting a censor certificate.
The Sikh high priests have also demanded that Ram Rahim tender an unqualified apology for wearing clothes similar to that of the tenth Guru Gobind Singh.
Rajnath Singh was flooded with question on the Dera controversy and he had to be careful not to say anything that would embarrass Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.
The land pooling policy aims to kick-start a new wave of urbanisation in the predominantly rural state.
The BJP would need to contest more seats than it did in 2014 and 2019.
Chief Judicial Magistrate C L Mohal told the Punjab chief minister to appear in a Chandigarh court on September 20.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
The Punjab police arrested Jasvir Singh after the incident and booked him for hurting religious sentiments and attempt to murder.
Ten ministers were inducted into the Mann-led cabinet on Saturday.
AAP has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Punjab
A large crowd of party workers had gathered outside the Central Jail to greet the former chief minister.
Even as Sidhu parries queries on whether he would join the AAP, dissent is brewing in Arvind Kejriwal's party.
Singh's suspension came days after he questioned the manner in which a vigilance bureau team raided the residence of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar in a disproportionate assets case.
However, the Army, in a statement, said since Singh's cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot injury, no guard of honour or military funeral was provided, in accordance with the existing policy.
Notably, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu had urged Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state to announce the chief ministerial face for the polls, following which Gandhi had said that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party workers.
From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade.
'Those who are part of the NDA, like the JDU and LJP in Bihar, should also think. Polls are approaching in Bihar, people will seek answers from them'
The additional director general of police (security), however, said in an order on Friday that the security personnel were 'being withdrawn on a purely temporary basis in connection with an emergent law and order duty'.
Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, former Army chief Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chandigarh in the presence of the party leadership, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
A case against Majithia under various sections of the NDPS Act was registered on the basis of a 2018 status report of probe into the drug racket in the state.
In a blow to Punjab Congress, two of its senior leader resigned from the party and joined the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday.
An invitation will also be sent to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
The complaint was about movie stars apparently seen in a 'drugged' state in the video. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa had sent the video to NCB and his complaint was marked to the agency's Mumbai zonal unit, the official said.
The merger was sealed on Friday during a meeting between Badal and Rahul at the latter's residence here where Singh and All India Congress Committee General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad were also present, they said.
In a video message posted on X, Kangana Ranaut claimed that she and the members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) have been receiving threats. She said she is under pressure to not show the assassination of the former prime minster by her security guards.
The MPs representing various political parties offered heartfelt tributes to the building that has been the epicentre of India's democratic journey.
Arora will have to resign from the Rajya Sabha if he wins the bypoll, the date for which is yet to be announced.
As Punjab reels under unscheduled power cuts, Sidhu on Friday sought a law to nullify the power purchase agreements signed during the tenure of the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government.
'While Kejriwal has lost his credibility due to his failure in Delhi, Captain Amarinder Singh is dancing on the tune of his image managers.'
So far, the maximum 83 deaths have taken place in Tarn Taran district, followed by 14 in Batala and 13 in Amritsar. The tragedy has been unfolding since Wednesday evening in the three districts.
Sources said Modi also called up various leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's M K Stalin and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal.
The Akali Dal-BJP alliance won on four seats and the AAP bagged one.
