By IANS,
New Delhi : Father and son, both go by the name of Badal. While one heads the Punjab government, the other heads the state’s ruling party. So who’s the boss?
That often causes confusion for Akali Dal leaders in the state.
While the reins of the state are in the hands of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the operational control, for all practical purposes, is with his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
In the party, Badal senior is the patron-cum-mentor but again son Sukhbir, who is officially the Akali Dal president, calls the shots.
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Judeo to keep his moustache
Dilip Singh Judeo, former union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Bilaspur seat in Chhattisgarh, has refused to put his long moustache at stake this time.
In the 2003 assembly polls, he had announced that he would shave it off if the BJP failed to unseat the then Ajit Jogi-led Congress government. The BJP went on to win the polls – and Judeo, an erstwhile royal, managed to hold on to his prized possession.
Now the leader is locked in a keen contest with Jogi’s wife Renu for the April 16 Lok Sabha polls.
However, he said: “I will not put my moustache at stake this time. The moustache is a symbol of warriors, it should not be put at stake again and again!”
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Crowded Congress office and those polite policemen
The Congress headquarters these days is bursting at its seams, with prospective ticket seekers and their supporters landing up at the 24 Akbar Road office in the Indian capital.
The line-up of plush cars, parked haphazardly on the road, spells a difficult time for common people. TV crews too have parked their vans outside the office, adding to the chaos. Most commuters, having learnt it the hard way, avoid the bustling Akbar Road.
Traffic policemen are helpless. They dare not take on those arriving at the Congress office. So they just politely give some parking suggestions and leave it to the better judgement of party workers!
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Youth brigade or Rahul Gandhi favourites?
They may have been picked to woo the youth. Or it’s possible that a whole new generation of young Congress leaders in Punjab has direct access to party general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
For, several of them have got party ticket, with Gandhi in charge of the party’s youth wing.
Gandhi chose Ravneet Singh Bittu, 32, the newly elected state Youth Congress chief and grandson of former chief minister Beant Singh, for the newly created Anandpur Sahib seat.
Sukhwinder Singh Danny, 32, the foreign-educated son of a former minister, was handpicked for Faridkot.
Former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s confidant and former Punjab Youth Congress chief Vijay Inder Singla got the nod for the Sangrur seat.