Watch out for what Navjot Singh Sidhu does next!

In every team game, the management ensures that its key players attain form when it matters the most. In sport, this is called peaking at the right moment. Things are not too different in politics. For the Punjab Congress, its key player Navjot Singh Sidhu has hit the right form at the wrong moment. Many of his colleagues were left aghast the impudence with which he recently announced freebies for the voters. It is said CM Charanjit Singh Channi was in the process of holding confabulations with his Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal about the feasibility of giving eight LPG cylinders per year and Rs 2,000 per month to Punjab’s women when suddenly Sidhu got the wind of the meeting. He jumped the gun and proclaimed from a rally held in a small town like Bhaduar that women were in for a bonanza if his party was voted to power. The cat was now out of the bag. Normally, big announcements, and this definitely was one, are made in the press club at Chandigarh. This ensures that the message travels far and wide due to the presence of the large number of print and electronic media outlets. Sidhu sensed that it was a ‘big ticket’ announcement hence he wanted to take mileage before somebody else got it. Such was his hurry that instead of traveling to Chandigarh, he made the proclamation from Bhadaur itself. For his colleagues, including Channi and Badal, the man had struck the form at the wrong moment. Many felt he should have taken into confidence his colleagues before embarking on such a highly populist measure. But then the maverick Sidhu rarely cares for such niceties. He went ahead and made the womenfolk ecstatic. But at the same time, politically speaking, he had shot himself in the foot. A day later, some ministers took up the matter with their high command. Gurdaspur ex-MP Partap Singh Bajwa must have been a stunned man as normally such declarations are made in the party manifesto. He is the chairman of the manifesto committee. Sidhu, inadvertently or otherwise, has made sure that Bajwa remains the chairman without a chair. As for now, Bajwa has been rendered hors de combat. Likewise, even as the party screening committee, which shortlists candidates, was holding sittings, Sidhu declared that Fateh Jung Bajwa, sitting MLA of Qadian, would be re-nominated for the ticket. He also announced at a public rally held in Batala a fortnight ago that Ashwani Sekhri would be the party’s candidate from Batala. Screening committee members were left licking their wounds even as their president was going on an overdrive to announce the candidates without taking them into confidence. Watch out this space for what Sidhu does next!

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Offering Peanuts or plum posts?

In a recent visit to some Assembly seats of Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal calmly nipped in the bud the dissidence against his party’s official candidates. In Batala, he drove to rebel Ramandeep Singh Sandhu’s house and confabulated with him for an hour. He was promised a plum posting if the party was voted to power. Sandhu had red flagged the candidature of Sucha Singh Chhotepur was the Batala seat. Another contender, Sukhbir Singh Walha, an ex-chairman of Sugarfed, too, had revolted. Sukhbir ordered two-time Gurdaspur MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali to take his message to Walha’s house. Again, the man was promised a plum post. Later, in Dinanagar, Badal managed to woo rebel leaders with plum posts. People were left wondering how many plum posts he will have in his kitty if he becomes the CM. Till yet, Badal has offered such posts to nearly a dozen leaders. A wag commented that he was distributing such posts like he would distribute peanuts to his workers at rallies.

Progressive Farmer’s sweet date with jaggery

In Gurdaspur, a progressive farmer Harpreet Singh Rinku Dala is busy making a name for himself and for his family by preparing high quality jaggery also called ‘gur’ in local parlance. His products are not up for sale but nevertheless these are making a way into kitchens of many people here in Gurdaspur. He has been in this for the last decade or so. His farmhouse is his ‘gur’ factory. His produce is renowned in the area for its high quality and immense health benefits. It is often touted as being healthier than other forms of sugar. Doctors claim jaggery is an excellent source of iron. A single serving, says Rinku Dala, contains ten percent of your required iron intake for the day. And everybody knows iron is critical for supporting healthy blood cells and getting enough iron in your diet can make you feel less tired. Needless to say, Dala is a much sought after man.

(Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal)