Dr Gandhi puts Punjab Front on back foot

Chandigarh: Last week, AAP rebel and Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi’s Punjab Front announced its first list of 15 candidates. At the press conference, Dr Gandhi announced the names. “Sir, you are still a Member of Parliament from AAP. So in which capacity are you leading this front?” a journalist tossed a question. Dr Gandhi became a little restless and said, “I am neither a member of this front nor I am its leader.” His reply surprised almost everybody. Even other leaders of the front were clueless to see their main leader’s reaction.

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His contribution to farm front noteworthy 

Chandigarh: Jagdeep Singh Cheema, who passed away on December 10, will be remembered not only for his social work, but also for his contribution to agriculture. In 2002, in memory of his father Dr Amrik Singh Cheema, former Vice-Chancellor, PAU, he established Dr Amrik Singh Cheema Foundation Trust. It aims to improve the lives of the underprivileged of Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab. He led the Punjab Young Farmers’ Association. With more than 10,000 members, the association is working for farmers. It has a campus in Patiala’s Rakhra village. The association helps farmers by providing them with new seeds and technology. It also organises Kisan Melas to educate farmers on new techniques. Cheema, in his youth, had tryst with politics. He became active in the Congress in Haryana in early 1980s. He served as a joint secretary of the Haryana Youth Congress. He served on several posts in the Haryana Government. He was also founder president of the Punjab Golf Association.

Testing times for Channi

Chandigarh: Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi is multi-tasking these days. He is not only busy attending meetings of the screening committee and Central Election Committee in Delhi, besides campaigning in his Chamkaur Sahib constituency. He is also appearing in semester examinations of master’s in political science at Panjab University (PU). He is in a “hop-in-hop-off” mode. Last Friday was no exception. After attending a screening committee meeting on late Thursday evening, the Congress leader appeared in an exam in political science in Arts Block, PU, the next morning. After quietly slipping in to his car, Channi was off to attend a rally in his segment. After political science, next on his agenda is a diploma in human rights. 

AAP nominee pre-empts query

Chandigarh: “My seat is not being changed,” an AAP candidate said on answering the call. His reply prompted laughter. On being told the query was not about his seat, pat came the reply, “Maybe not, but such are the state of affairs in the party that journalists ask only two queries: First, are you leaving AAP? Second, is your seat also being changed?” Perhaps state AAP convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich’s statement on Saturday that no seat would be changed will soothe the nerves.

DC shines on different pitch 

Gurdaspur: When bureaucrats play sports, they play it for fun. But when the Gurdaspur DC’s team played a T20 match against the SSP’s team, students of the game were in for a treat. Not many knew that the DC, Pardeep Sabharwal, had played cricket at the junior level. As he started driving, pulling and cutting the cherry with aplomb, the coach of government college coaching centre, where the match was played, asked his trainees to observe the player in the middle. After his quick fire 47 off 25 balls, trainees requested Sabharwal to visit the centre regularly and play more matches. What was the result? The administration has ordered that the DC-SSP matches will be a weekly feature.

Religious ‘babu’

Muktsar: Meet this PCS officer who has taken time out of his busy schedule to express his feelings lyrically. Lakhmir Singh, ADC (General), Muktsar, working under the control of the state head for being posted in his home district, has composed religious songs. His first video track Shukar shot at the Golden Temple is ready. He is yet to share it on YouTube.

Pic of 1971 war evokes memories 

Abohar: After 45 years of his life’s most adventurous landing in Mi-14 chopper at the Dhaka airport on December 16, 1971 — the day Bangladesh was liberated from Pakistan — former IAF sergeant Sharat Chander Sharma was honoured on Vijay Diwas. The NGOs felicitated him with garlands and a memento that carried pictures of martyrs of the 1971 war. For the organisers, it was overwhelming to see a picture taken on December 16, 1971. It showed Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (first president of Bangladesh), welcoming seven IAF men who landed first at Dhaka Civil Airport at 10 am that day. “Even after 45 years, it seems difficult to forget those moments,” Sharma said.