Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh criticizes the BJP's functioning, stating he is not being consulted. He rules out rejoining the Congress but expresses willingness to help Sonia Gandhi personally. He also discusses Punjab's political landscape, AAP's performance, and national security.
Indians have topped the number of illegal immigrants from Asian countries caught at land, sea, and air checkpoints of the US since 2022.
Ahead of their planned protest in Chandigarh on March 5, several Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders were detained in early morning raids at their residences on Tuesday and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann denounced the agitating farmer unions, saying they have turned Punjab into a 'state of dharnas' and caused huge losses to it.
The obsession for migrating to the US is visible mostly in Majha and Doaba regions of Punjab, he further said.
Farmers mounted their protest demanding a financial package for losses caused by the recent floods, a legal guarantee to minimum support price, and a sweeping debt waiver.
Farmers on Saturday evening ended their three-day 'rail roko' stir that hit the movement of trains, causing inconvenience to passengers in Punjab and Haryana.
Amritpal Singh, the chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, who is lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act, has thrown his hat into the ring as an Independent.
The victim was a farmer apparently taking part in the protest in the district's Longowal area, where police were trying to stop protesters from blocking a national highway and a toll plaza, officials said.
After yoga and meditation, it is now designer smiles, fresh crowns and tooth implants, which promise a refashioned "nirvana" for an increasing number of foreigners and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) visiting Jalandhar.
Farmer unions protesting the Centre's three farm laws had said they would go ahead with their tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.
A powerful suicide blast ripped through a mosque in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Friday, killing at least 52 people and injuring over 50 others gathered to celebrate Prophet Muhammad's birthday, authorities said.
After many years, intricate caste calculations will dominate politics in Punjab.
"The Congress did not behave properly with my grandfather. I campaigned for the BJP during the Madan Lal Khurrana days in Delhi. My grandfather wanted me to join the BJP. He had introduced me to late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani," he said.
Apart from Chamkaur Sahib assembly seat which comes in Maajha region of Punjab, Congress is all set to field CM Channi from Adampur assembly constituency which falls in the Doaba Region.
Tractors carried the flags of the unions, some sported the tricolour, and also posters with slogans of 'Kisan Ekta Zindabad', 'No Farmer, No Food' and 'Kaale Kanoon Radd Karo'.
The Mayawati-led BSP will fight 20 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab, while the rest will be contested by the SAD.
In an apparent bid to reach out to Dalit voters, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday urged people to remember Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar while voting in next month's assembly polls and said he "worships" the leader.
For the last several weeks, both Channi and Sidhu have, directly or indirectly, made a case to be declared as the party's nominee for the top post.
Nothing exemplifies this Sikh khundak (revenge) better than the fact that all the tallest names in the state lost their election to novices fielded by AAP.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 10 ministers at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh.
He had along with three other ministers rebelled against Amarinder Singh while choosing to side with the camp of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Farmers will observe June 5 as 'Sampoorna Kranti Divas' by burning copies of the central farm laws in front of the offices of BJP MPs and MLAs to mark the day when these legislations were initially promulgated as ordinances last year, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha said.
The biggest winner will be the BJP -- which has such a small presence that every incremental vote it gets can only increase its strength. But the man who will win despite losing everything will be Captain Amarinder Singh, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
The other main contender for the party's CM face was Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Jat Sikh face.
Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Monday sworn in as the chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dalit to hold the top post in the state.
At many places, where the voters had entered booths before 6 pm and were standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes.
These 22 farm bodies were among 32 farmer organisations in Punjab which participated in the over-a-year-long protest against the three central farm laws.
The Congress is banking on decisions like reducing electricity tariff and fuel prices, taken during current CM Charanjit Singh Channi's 111-day tenure.
As the farmers prepare to leave their protest sites on Delhi's borders on Saturday after the government repealed the farm laws and acceded to their other demands, many say they will reinstall their tents in their villages as a symbol of their long, arduous struggle.
At least 10 people were killed and several others injured when a powerful explosion ripped through an election meeting organised by a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said.
The letter to Sonia Gandhi reminded her of the party's 18-point agenda "given to the last chief minister" of Punjab and said that those were "equally relevant today".
The Congress picked Charanjit Singh Channi as the next chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dailt to hold the post in the state, a day after Amarinder Singh resigned following a bitter power tussle in the party.
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.
'The distrust of traditional political parties in Punjab is an advantage for AAP.'
Thousands of individuals in the Doaba region hold this holy shrine in high esteem.
The state government, a few years ago, started a matching grant scheme for NRIs who wanted to invest in the development of their villages, and the scheme proved attractive for NRIs, especially in the Doaba region.
Mohammad Tahseen, monitor, Pakistan Coalition for Free and Fair Democratic Election, spoke exclusively to rediff.com on telephone from Gawal Mandi, a polling booth in Lahore.
Multiple pleas have been filed in the top court seeking a direction to authorities to immediately remove the farmers, saying commuters are facing hardships due to the road blockades and the gatherings might lead to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Lack of opportunities coupled with a desire to get rich quick in the West is fueling Punjab's human trafficking problem.
Here's a list of the full first-time ministers in the second term of the Narendra Modi government.
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