Chandigarh Newsline ; Monday,01 Aug 2011.
Chandigarh Guess CM’s age;
Is he 85, 86 or above 90? Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh wants an end to the mystery over Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s age. And he has more than one reason to believe that there are more years to the CM than he admits. “Badal and my brother’s father-in-law were together at the F C College in Lahore. His father-in-law is above 90, how can the CM be just 85?” Amarinder told mediapersons during an interaction last week. Later, he offered another historical event. “When I became the chief minister in 2002, I sent Badal a bouquet of flowers to wish him his 83rd birthday. Nine years hence, how is he still 85?” he quipped. But even Capt admitted that whatever be Badal’s age, his mental faculties are still very sound. But only till the next day. When an angry Badal lashed out at the Captain for his statement calling him a moral coward, Capt was quick to announce him a senile CM suffering from dementia.
Fury of a man;
Having lost the Bathinda parliamentary seat to Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s wife Harsimrat Badal in the last Lok Sabha polls, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh seems to have vowed to avenge his defeat. Asked about Raninder’s candidature for the 2012 state Assembly elections, Amarinder ruled out the possibility. “My son is keen to take on none other than the woman he lost to Harsimrat,” he said. The old adage “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” apparently applies to “defeated” men as well.
The ‘young’ mantri
Talking about politicians and age, there is also a breed that believes in Birbal’s philosophy make yourself seem younger by pronouncing others as elders. And Punjab’s Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria apparently subscribes to this school of thought. Speaking at a conclave last week on “Cinematic Tourism in North India”, Gabria had his script ready. Before his stock lines glorious heritage of Punjab, role of Punjabis in freedom struggle and what Punjab had to offer to Bollywood the real punch came in his welcome line. “Mein apne saare buzurgaan (my elders), naujawana (young), behena (sisters) te dhiyan nu (and daughters) ...,” said Gabria while welcoming the participants. It led to some blushes and some serious glances around. What Gabria did not realise was that being on the wrong side of 60, he was perhaps the most buzurg of all the participants there.
Babus in RTI war;
The Right To Information (RTI) Act is the first resort for those out of power in Punjab. Suspended Punjab IAS officer V K Janjua who had hit the headlines in 2009 when he was caught by the Vigilance Bureau taking a bribe as the director (Industries) and then suspended has filed a slew of RTI applications with various public authorities to prove that he was wronged. This time, he filed an application in the Ludhiana deputy commissioner’s office, seeking tax-related information, including copies of Form 16 of Principal Secretary (Industries) S S Channy from September 12, 1990 to July 1, 1995. During these five years, Channy was posted as the Ludhiana deputy commissioner. Though his case for information was dismissed in the Punjab State Information Commission, Janjua levelled serious allegation of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income against Channy. He also gave a list of assets which, according to him, have been acquired by Channy either in his own or his family members’ name after joining the IAS. Channy, in turn, has denied all charges.
‘Right’ man for the job;
This can happen only in Punjab. A senior police officer in a litigation tangle with the state government is also heading the litigation wing of the Punjab Police. Inspector General of Police (Litigation) B K Uppal is facing a perjury charge in the corruption case against the Badals. While Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal stand acquitted, Uppal has been charged with perjury. He has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the charge against him. He is pitted against the same government that considers his services invaluable as the litigation wing head.
Room at the top;
Beginning this August, a string of farewell parties for the top brass of the Haryana Police is likely to leave many senior officers, who are eyeing key positions, a happy lot. Five DGPs (from 1974-77 batch of IPS officers) are slated to retire between August this year and December 2012, The ones who will retire include DG (Housing) Swaranjit Singh in August, followed by DG (CID) P V Rathi in January 2012, DG (Home Guard) Brijender Rai, DG Ranjiv Singh Dalal in October 2012 and DG (Prisons) Rakesh Malik in December 2012. As the key posts fall vacant majorly in the next year’s last quarter, the officers in the reckoning have already started getting hopeful. The next DGP is most likely to be selected from the 1979 batch of officers, which comprises of three senior IPS officers, currently posted on the ranks of ADGs. With these officers retiring, five posts of DGPs shall become open for the next lot. Needless to say, the lobbying for bagging the key posts has already got underway in full swing.
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