Pronouncing 'tankhah' (religious punishment) for Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for the 'mistakes' committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, the Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht on Monday directed the senior Akali leader to perform as a 'sewadar', and wash dishes and clean shoes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
He was seen wearing a plaque around his neck while sitting in a wheelchair because of a fractured leg.
'The Badals have made the Akali Dal a family enterprise and undermined the Sikh faith. They have no right to call themselves Akalis. We have approached the Election Commission to register ourselves as the Akali Dal with a different nomenclature. We will impress on people's minds that we are the real Akali Dal' Sai Manish reports on the fight for supremacy over the Akali Dal.
Shekhawat, the BJP's poll in-charge for Punjab, said to finalise the seat sharing agreement, a joint committee will be formed comprising two leaders from each party.
The BJP Friday formally announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress.
The Shiromani Akali Dal had on Saturday quit the National Democratic Alliance over the farm bills issue.
The Congress also fielded former Patiala mayor Vishnu Sharma from the Patiala assembly seats against its former leader Amarinder Singh.
AAP has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Punjab
Shah asserted that the BJP will once again form the government in Uttar Pradesh with a comfortable majority.
Singh (80) had floated the Punjab Lok Congress last year after quitting the Congress.
'Hopeful of a seat arrangement with BJP in polls if farmers protest is resolved in farmers' interest'
Gandhi is seeking responses from Congress leaders and workers through the party's Shakti app, sources said. The opinion of common people on the issue will also be sought in a day or two.
Such is the situation of the government in Punjab, the prime minister said while hitting out the Congress, and asserted that he will come to Jalandhar again and pay obeisance at the Devi Talab Mandir.
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.
Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said the former chief minister Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government had to be replaced as it was being run by the BJP from Delhi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded two Congress turncoats and its former Union minister Vijay Sampla for next month's Punjab assembly polls as it released its second list of 27 candidates on Thursday.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other areas have stayed put at various Delhi border points, protesting against the new farm laws, which they fear will dismantle the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporate firms.
Besides Kejriwal, no other chief minister will be present in the oath-taking ceremony, according to AAP sources.
"NDA is a beautiful rainbow of regional aspirations... So nation's development through the development of states... At a time when we are working for a developed India, NDA is taking the lead in showing the spirit of sabka prayas," he said.
Olympic medallist boxer Vijender Singh, who joined the farmers' agitation at the Haryana-Delhi border on Sunday, said he will return his Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award if the Centre's new farm laws are not withdrawn.
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.
The Shiromani Akali Dal-Sanyukt will contest on 17 seats.
In a bid to crack down on National Sports Federation (NSF) heads who have been occupying the posts for too long, the Sports Ministry on Sunday said NSF chiefs in office for more than a decade will have to step down after their current term expires.
The government has ruled out a separate marriage law for the Sikhs and dropped the proposal to amend the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 to provide for registration of the Sikh marriages.
Badal said the farmers are waging a bitter struggle in the severe cold just to secure their fundamental right to life.
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'.
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.
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said the National Democratic Alliance is stooping too low and carrying out a scurrilous campaign against Congress nominee Pratibha Patil.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a number of prominent Sikhs at his residence on Friday and highlighted the works done by his government for the community.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday suspended the Question Hour and took up for discussion an Opposition-sponsored adjounment motion on the Nanavati Commission report.
SAD (B) had already released the first list of its 62 candidates on Saturday.
From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade.
The Aam Aadmi Party has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, IIT Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora for the March 31 Rajya Sabha polls.
Before his legislative assembly debut this time, he has been elected twice as a Member of Parliament from Sangrur.
Mann, 48, is a two-time MP from Sangrur and is the party's state unit chief.
Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
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