Ahead of AAP’s Feb 18 rally, buzz over Jalandhar ticket to MP Sushil Rinku

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, February 14

Ahead of the rally for the Jalandhar Parliamentary seat slated for coming Sunday i.e. February 18 at Nakodar to be addressed by AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, political circles are abuzz if the duo would make an announcement regarding party ticket to sitting Jalandhar MP Sushil Rinku.

AAP has been organising rallies in all Parliamentary seats as it did in Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Khadoor Sahib earlier. In the rally at Khadoor Sahib the previous Sunday, Kejriwal had said that the party would announce its candidates in the next two weeks.

While one section of AAP leadership is of the view that the announcement would be made as Rinku is the only LS MP that the party has and it cannot deny him ticket after he has remained in power for nearly nine months now. The other section is of the view that the party would delay any such announcement, especially since Rinku cannot claim much to his credit in this period and that the civic amenities have gone from bad to worse.

Another issue that the party has tried to quickly settle before the rally is organising a meeting of senior administrative officials with the management of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, especially since the issue of no fund usage for Guru Ravidas Research Centre had cropped up. While a cheque to the tune for Rs 25 crore had been handed over to the dera by Kejriwal and Mann in March 2023 ahead of the Parliamentary bypoll last year, a recent RTI moved by activist Parvinder S Kitna had shown that not a penny of this amount had been used. Not a single meeting had been conducted on planning the project and even acquiring the land for setting up the centre.

Local Government Minister Balkar Singh convened a meeting at the Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh with Minister for Tourism and Cultural Affairs Anmol Gagan Mann and Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku. He instructed the Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar to find a suitable location, prioritising the work for the project and to prepare the layout promptly with the dera management.

Administrative Secretary of Punjab Tourism and Culture Affairs Amit Dhaka, Director of Punjab Tourism and Culture Affairs Neeru Katyal, Director of Social Security and Women Child Development Department Shena Agarwal, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal, Deputy Secretary of Finance Department Jaswinder Singh, Guru Ravidas Bani Adhiyan Centre General Secretary Sat Pal Heer, Joint Secretary Joginder Pal, Trustees Hardev Ram and Parvinder Kumar, among other senior officers were present.

Meeting with Dera management

Another issue that the party has tried to quickly settle before the rally is organising a meeting of senior administrative officials with the management of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, especially since the issue of no fund usage for Guru Ravidas Research Centre had cropped up. While a cheque to the tune for Rs 25 crore had been handed over to the dera by Kejriwal and Mann in March 2023 ahead of the Parliamentary bypoll last year, a recent RTI moved by activist Parvinder S Kitna had shown that not a penny of this amount had been used.