The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 76

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The International News Weekly India January 18, 2018 | Toronto 10 MLA quits AAP, blames ‘arrogant’ leaders Bathinda: The Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Jaitu, Master Baldev Singh, resigned from the party’s primary membership on Wednesday, saying that he was dissapointed by AAP’s “dictatorial”, “arrogant” and “overconfident” leadership. Baldev Singh (60) said he was going to join Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khairaled Punjabi Ekta Party (PEP) “very soon”. He had hinted at quitting the party on January 7, when he said he would consult his supporters before reaching a decision. The move comes just ahead of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s visit to Punjab for launching the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign. In his resignation letter, Baldev said he was pained to see the party “completely giving up on its ideology and principles”. “After few years, I feel AAP too has started behaving like other traditional parties and decisions are not taken with unanimity, but with a dictatorial attitude. Pained by all this, I have decided to resign,” he wrote in the letter to Kejriwal. Baldev said he would continue to be an MLA and had only left the party. He said in the letter he had, initially, seen AAP as a party with a difference. “I was motivated by the movement launched by Anna Hazare and became a part of AAP. To improve the situation of our country and Punjab, I quit my government job as a head teacher, though I had more than 4 years of service left,” he wrote. “This panicked my family, but I took the risk merely due to the lofty promises made by you and AAP,” he wrote. Khaira resigned from AAP’s primary membership on January 6. With Khaira and Baldev leaving, AAP’s strength in the assembly has fallen to 18. Some other MLAs are in touch with Khaira and more resignations cannot be ruled out. The Shiromani Akali Dal has 14 MLAs. Belonging to Takhanbadh village in Moga, Baldev was the head teacher of a government primary school in Machaki Mal Singh village near Faridkot when he took pre-mature retirement in January 2014 and applied for the AAP ticket from Faridkot parliamentary constituency. The ticket was allotted to Sadhu Singh, but Baldev continued to work for the party and got its assembly ticket from Jaitu in 2017. Baldev described AAP leadership’s attitude as “arrogant and overconfident”, saying that it led to the party’s “crushing” deafeat in the assembly polls. “You never bothered to look into the reasons of this humiliating defeat and once again handed over the reins of Punjab to outsiders,” he wrote. In Kandela, bull’s blessings opens doors for politicians Chandigarh: The fourcornered battle for the Jind assembly seat has raised the stakes for all contestants in the byelection — politicians are not only bowing in front of voters, but also a bull to ensure their victory. Congress media incharge and its bypoll candidate Randeep Singh Surjewala visited Kandela village, near Jind, on Monday and offered prayers to “Khagar (bull),” which is believed to have saved the villagers during police firing in 2002. The temple on the Jind-Chandigarh highway, which houses an idol of the bull, attributed with divine powers by the villagers, is maintained by the village panchayat. There is a music system in the temple and ‘aarti (prayer)’ is offered twice a day — in the morning and evening. The bull temple perhaps has more devotees than any other conventional temple in the vicinity. All politicians or dignitaries visiting the village do not forget to offer prayers at the memorial of the bull, which saved the village from a major tragedy. For every villager, this bull is paramount and people respect those who pay tribute to their saviour,” Ram Mehar Kandela, a resident of village and a khap leader told media. The village had turned into a battleground between farmers and the OP Chautala government in 2002 over non-payment of electricity bills. The Kandela farmers as part of the anti-government agitation had blocked the highway and the Haryana police, in retaliation, opened fire on them. The BJP was supporting the INLD government at the time. The bull, according to the villagers, stood like a wall between the police and the farmers and saved lives of the protesters. Narrating the details of the bull’s powers, the villagers claimed the bull charged towards the cops when they opened fire. Almost simultaneously, the police rifles stopped working, their vehicles could not move and the horses, which had cops riding them, fled on seeing the bull, they added. Nine villagers lost their lives in the firing, but Kandela residents believe that the bull was their saviour and helped avert a major loss of lives. The bull died a few years after the 2002 incident and a temple was constructed in its memory by the villagers. Since then, the villagers first offers prayers to the bull before beginning any new work or before any auspicious event in their families. A portion of the first harvest is offered first to the bull by the villagers. With the villagers suspicious of the motives of the undivided INLD and the BJP — the two parties in power at the time — khap leader Ram Mehar Kandela said the villagers would wait and see if the BJP, JJP or INLD candidates would also offer prayers at the temple. So emotive is the 2002 firing issue in the village, that after offering prayers at the bull memorial, Surjewala addressed an election meeting in the village and reminded its residents that OP Chautala was responsible for the violence in Kandela. An MBA enters the frame, sparks speculations in BSP Lucknow: He was there beside BSP chief Mayawati when she welcomed and accepted greetings from SP president Akhilesh Yadav at her residence here on her birthday on Tuesday. He was also by her side when RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav came calling on Sunday. While there is a sudden spurt in public appearances of Mayawati, the person who is arresting people’s attention is 24-year-old Akash Anand, standing besides her in most photographs. Akash is her nephew, the son of her brother Anand Singh, who served as BSP vice-president till 2017. The photos also set speculations rife about Akash, an MBA from London, being assigned an important political role. But, senior leaders ruled out any such development, citing Mayawati’s announcement in May last year that no family member of the national president would be given a post in the party. In the past, she even had Anand Singh removed from the post of national vice-president to refute charges of promoting dynasty politics in BSP. BSP sources said Akash had accompanied Mayawati to Lucknow on January 10 and stayed with her to celebrate her birthday on January 15. He featured prominently in all official photo ops. “Akash handles his father’s business and it will be incorrect to read anything political into his visit. His last visit to Lucknow was probably in April last year,” said a party member. However, Akash and his father have made several public appearances with Mayawati in the past. Sources indicated that the nephew, who was initially being groomed by Mayawati for a bigger role in the party before she announced that no family member would be given a party position, may be playing a part in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “His first official public appearance with Mayawati was in 2016 when he accompanied her to Saharanpur. He was also on stage with her during a rally in Meerut in February 2017. In October 2017, when Anand was still the party vice-president, their names were mentioned in a press release for the first time,” said party sources. He has a Facebook page ‘Akash Anand-BSP’ that was created in September 2017. The closed group has seen activity pick up over the past few weeks with 1,427 members out of a total 8,467 added in the past 30 days.
The International News Weekly India January 18, 2018 | Toronto 11 Cong suspends Zira for ‘gross indiscipline’ Chandigarh: The Punjab Congress on Wednesday suspended its MLA from Zira constituency, Kulbir Singh Zira, for “gross indiscipline” and “undermining” efforts of the Congress state government to fight the drug menace. Congress state president Sunil Jakhar said instead of raising his issues on a public platform, Zira should have discussed it within the party. He said the MLA had been suspended, but would continue to be a legislator. Jakhar said Zira was issued a show-cause notice. “Though he submitted a reply, he failed to explain his conduct and this resulted in the suspension,” he said. Jakhar said the next course of action would be decided after discussion within the party. However, interacting with media, Zira said he had been unnecessarily targetted for raising the issue and would take up the matter with higher-ups in the party. Zira had boycotted a district-level function on January 12, alleging that authorities were not acting against the liquor mafia in Ferozepur. He had also levelled allegations on Ferozepur range IGP M S Chhina. Jakhar said Zira also met DGP Suresh Arora and submitted his complaints, and these had been marked to different officers for investigation. To a question on why the Congress did not to act against Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Singh Bajwa and Amargarh MLA Surjit Singh Dhiman, when they had earlier openly criticised the state government on various issues, including drugs, Jakhar said, “Somewhere, one has to draw the line.” “Indiscipline in the party will not be tolerated. If someone has any issue, he should take up the matter within the party,” he said. Dhiman had in 2017 left the state Congress government embarrassed when he said that “chitta” (synthetic drug powder) was still being openly sold in the state. Jakhar rubbished the allegations that Congress leaders were grabbing land of those supporting the SAD and the BJP, as was alleged by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday. On resignations by Punjab MLAs Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Master Baldev Singh from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party, Jakhar said the law would take its own course. SC rejects Punjab, Haryana plea on selection of DGPs Chandigarh/New Delhi: In a major setback to five states, including Punjab and Haryana, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed their pleas seeking modification of its order issued last year on the selection and appointment of directorsgeneral of police (DGPs). The five states had sought the SC’s permission to select and appoint their DGPs according to laws that they have enacted for the same. Punjab and Haryana had amended their respective Police Acts last year. The Supreme Court in its July 3, 2018 verdict had made it mandatory for all the states to send a list of names of eligible IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) three months before the incumbent DGP was to retire and, in turn, the commission would choose three officers from that list and let the final choice rest with the state governments. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said on Wednesday that the earlier directions of the SC were issued in larger public interest and to protect officials from political interference. The Punjab government in its petition had submitted since police is a state subject, it should have the liberty to appoint the DGP, contending that the selection of DGP from amongst the three officers finalised by the UPSC was against the basic structure of the Constitution and contrary to the Centre-State relations. Punjab DGP Suresh Arora on Wednesday got a nine-month extension after the SC rejected the Punjab government’s plea on the appointment of the state police chief. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Arora’s extension for an overall period of 12 months beyond the date of his superannuation, September 30, 2018. After Punjab DGP Suresh Arora got two extensions, a three-month one till December 31 and onemonth extension till January 31, the Punjab government had taken up the issue with the Centre and sought a third extension for the director general of police (DGP) and that was allowed on Wednesday. Arora was appointed the DGP by the then SAD- BJP government in 2015. However, Haryana DGP BS Sandhu, who along with Arora had first got a threemonth extension and then one-month extension till January 31, has not been given a longer extension yet. He too was due to retire on September 30 last year. After the Punjab DGP’s tenure extension, Arora will retire on September 30, but before that two of the next five IPS officers in the seniority list will reach their age of superannuation — DGP law and order Hardeep Singh Dhillon will retire on March 31 and 1986-batch IPS officer Jasminder Singh (DGP internal vigilance cell) on August 30. ' BSF-NHAI team visits Dera Baba Nanak Amritsar: A day after the Union home ministry discussed land acquisition at Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district for the construction of the Indian side of the Kartarpur corridor, BSF inspector general (Punjab frontier) Mahipal Yadav and officials from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), accompanied by those from the Gurdaspur district administration, visited the border areas of Dera Baba Nanak. They visited places close to the International Border (IB) with Pakistan and inspected the land that could be acquired for construction of the passage and corridor complex that would have offices of the border paramilitary force, immigration and customs. Yadav confirmed that he had gone to Dera Baba Nanak, but to visit his battalion. “Since I had gone there, I decided to visit other places as well,” he said. Sources said that the BSF had put a requirement of around 70 acres for its new complex at Dera Baba Nanak. AAP writes to Speaker; Khaira set to be disqualified as MLA Chandigarh : On a day when the third MLA of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Baldev Singh, representing Jaito Assembly segment, resigned from the party’s primary membership, the top brass swung into action to save AAP from further “political erosion”. The party, after its core committee meeting, today sent a letter to Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP, saying that Sukhpal Singh Khaira had resigned from the party. Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema handed over the letter to the Speaker. With this, the disqualification of Khaira as MLA from Bholath in the Vidhan Sabha becomes inevitable. Bhagwant Mann, AAP MP, who is also part of the core committee, told The Tribune that the decision to send the letter to the Speaker was taken in the meeting late this evening and endorsed by the Political Affairs Committee of AAP in Delhi and national convenor Arvind Kejriwal. Crushing the surging rebellion in the party became necessary as the third resignation of AAP MLA from the party will bring down their number in the House to 17. HS Phoolka, though not part of the rebel group led by Khaira, had resigned on January 3, citing differences in ideology with the party. Khaira, who has the support of six other MLAs, had resigned on January 6. He floated his own party last week and the rebel MLAs, Kanwar Sandhu (under suspension), Jagtar Singh Jagga, Nazar Singh Manshahia, Jagdev Singh Kamalu and Pirmal Singh, besides Baldev Singh, were present at the party launch function. Sources in AAP say that these MLAs are still in two minds about resigning from the party. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP, too, jointly have 17 MLAs (14 of the Akali Dal and three of the BJP). With both Opposition parties having similar number of MLAs (provided the three above mentioned MLAs are disqualified), the SAD-BJP, too, can stake claim to the post of Leader of Opposition. Probably sensing this, the AAP leadership has taken action only against Sukhpal Khaira. The move is meant to stem the rebellion, as other rebels would not like to give up their Vidhan Sabha membership and force byelections in their segments.
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