When Sampla got angry

Malout: Union Minister and state BJP chief Vijay Sampla got angry during his Vijay Sankalp Rath Yatra in the town recently when a young BJP activist, among others, shouted: “Oye Sampla sahib, neeche aao (come down)”. Hearing this, Sampla from the door of his bus asked the party worker: “Oye ki hunda hai? (What is oye?)” The poor worker politely replied that he was just requesting him to come down from the bus.

BJP mum on replacements

Chandigarh: The first meeting of the election committee of the BJP in Delhi recently did not address the issue of giving ticket to all sitting MLAs. “We are wondering whether no discussion on the seats of sitting MLAs mean no chance for new faces,” a senior leader says. Differing on the issue, another leader says: “There are chances of even certain sitting MLAs being replaced, but the leadership avoided giving them jitters.”

BJP scores points over Akalis

Abohar: The BJP has claimed the credit for sanctioning of Amrut Yojna for Abohar under which Rs 100 crore will be disbursed in the next five years. Earlier, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal was to launch the scheme on December 10. But the programme had to be cancelled due to some reason. Following this, local BJP leaders got the scheme launched by their state president Vijay Sampla. As the “Vijay Sankalp Yatra” passed through the town, Sampla halted for a while and posed for a photo carrying a spade to dig the road amid applause by activists. 

Caste row still haunts Sadique

Faridkot: After the Akalis, now a sitting Congress MLA has questioned Mohammad Sadique’s Scheduled Caste (SC) status. Four years ago, it was Darbara Singh Guru, who had sought Sadique’s disqualification as MLA, saying the Muslims do not belong to the SC category.  Now, Congress MLA from Jaitu Joginder Singh took a potshot at Sadique after the party fielded the latter from Jaitu. “Beside his (Sadique) being an outsider, his caste status is controversial,” says Joginder.

Who’s next? Babus want to know 

Chandigarh: The state bureaucrats who could not enjoy plum postings for long are praying for a change of guard. In the corridors of power — the Punjab Civil Secretariat and the Mini Secretariat — most of the discussions among the officers and their guests are these days centered around which the party would form the next government. Wary of AAP coming to power, a number of babus would like to see contest either Akalis or the Congress coming to power.

Sukhbir’s Jalalabad arithmetic

Chandigarh: With Akali MP Sher Singh Ghubaya’s son joining the Congress, it seems that the electoral arithmetic has gone wrong for Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal. In his close circles, he often discusses the demography of the Jalalabad constituency these days. Recently at his residence, just before a press conference when a couple of journalists asked him about his plans to contest from Jalalabad, the Deputy CM was quick to share his knowledge about the number of Jat Sikh, Hindu and Rai Sikh voters in the constituency. “He is representing the constituency for seven years, why only now he is discussing the demography?” asked a senior journalist.  

‘Bankable’ doc felicitated

Chandigarh: Dr Dhiraj Sharma of School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala, was awarded with Outstanding Researcher Award during the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Development (IRSD 2016) at NITTTR, Chandigarh, recently. The award was conferred on him for his research publications and work in the area of Indian banking and banking technology. Sharma has recently completed his post-doctoral research work on “Internet Banking in North India” approved and financed by the UGC.