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SAD hunts for party face in Faridkot
Faridkot, September 28
Ten months after the senior SAD (B) leader and former Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon alias Kiki joined hands with the rebel Akali leader Manpreet Singh Badal, the SAD (B) leadership is facing problem in finding a suitable candidate for Faridkot, who could give a good electoral fight to Avtar Singh Brar, a heavyweight Congress leader and the former education minister.

Bathinda DC visits dengue patients
Bathinda, September 28
Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav today visited the local Civil Hospital to enquire about the well-being of patients suffering from dengue.

13 sentenced to life in murder case
Faridkot, September 28
The court of district and sessions judge, Faridkot, on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to 13 persons in a murder case.

Assembly polls
SAD hunts for party face in Faridkot
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 28
Ten months after the senior SAD (B) leader and former Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon alias Kiki joined hands with the rebel Akali leader Manpreet Singh Badal, the SAD (B) leadership is facing problem in finding a suitable candidate for Faridkot, who could give a good electoral fight to Avtar Singh Brar, a heavyweight Congress leader and the former education minister.

Though every visit of the Chief Minister or the Deputy Chief Minister in Faridkot in the last six months witnessed many ‘mohalla-level’ leaders making desperate attempts to project themselves as suitable SAD (B) candidate for the Faridkot seat but Badals have not yet found a suitable candidate.

On every visit of the CM or Deputy CM in the area during the last ten months, Faridkot witnessed a sort of competition among the local Akali leaders of placing big hoardings and posters, having their pictures with Sukhbir Badal, on the roadside electric poles to project themselves as potential candidate for the Faridkot seat.

A week back, when the Deputy CM was in the town and he reached the house of a liquor contractor of the Malwa region, the grist for the rumour mill was that the SAD (B) is planning to field the contractor from the Faridkot seat. However, another speculation was that the liquor contractor was hesitant in picking up the political bait as it would adversely affect his 'sprawling liquor business' in the state.

In the absence of a strong leader in Faridkot, some time back, the SAD (B) gave Janmeja Singh Sekhon, senior Akali leader from Ferozepur, the task to nurture Faridkot politically. Sekhon was asked to stay two days in a week in Faridkot to redress the problems of the party workers but Sekhon showed no interest in Faridkot and stuck to Ferozepur. “I am here only to serve the party and not to contest the election,” said Sekhon.

Kiki Dhillon’s family is known for their strong base in the Faridkot assembly constituency. Dhillon’s family is the only choice for the Badals for fielding them in the assembly elections. Earlier, his father Jasmel Singh Dhillon and mother Jagdish Kaur were the SAD (B)’s choice without any other claimant.

Difference between Sukhbir and Kiki started cropping before the assembly election in 2007. Kiki was given the ticket at the last minute after a lot of persuasion by Manpreet Singh Badal. Kushaldeep lost the election due to his detractors in the party. Therefore, in the last four years, while Kushaldeep was distancing himself from Sukhbir Badal, he was inching closer to Manpreet.

After the delimitation of the assembly constituencies, it is felt that besides the Faridkot assembly seat, Kushaldeep Dhillon is set to adversely affect the winning chances of the SAD (B) candidates from Kotkapura and Jaitu, the two other assembly constituencies in the Faridkot district.

Bathinda DC visits dengue patients
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 28
Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav today visited the local Civil Hospital to enquire about the well-being of patients suffering from dengue.

He met the patients and enquired about their health and the arrangements made by hospital authorities for their treatment.

District Health Officer Dr RS Randhawa was also present on the occasion.

There were 45 patients suffering from dengue in the hospital today.

As many as 28 patients were in the medical ward, 13 in the private rooms and four in the emergency.

The DC also visited the blood bank and gave some instructions to the authorities for providing more facilities to the donors there.

13 sentenced to life in murder case
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 28
The court of district and sessions judge, Faridkot, on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to 13 persons in a murder case.

A farmer, Bikar Singh of Machaki Mal Singh village in Faridkot, was killed in October 2008 when two groups of farmers had a clash over the possession of 14 acres of agricultural land.

Besides awarding life imprisonment to 13 members of one of the two groups, the court held the 13 members of the other group guilty of causing grievous hurt. The latter have been sentenced to four years in jail.

Both groups had accused each other of taking forcible possession of ‘their’ land. The land was jointly owned by 14 persons. Therefore, both the groups claimed to be its owner.

According to the case details, on October 26, 2008, a group of 13 farmers made forcible entry into the agriculture land and started harvesting paddy crop. The move was resisted by 14 farmers of the other group resulting in a clash.

Bikar Singh died in the exchange of fire. The Faridkot police registered a murder case against 13 members of the first group. However, the first group made a counter complaint accusing the other group of inflicting serious injuries. But the police did not register a case on their complaint.

Later, the group filed a criminal complaint in the court of district and session judge.