Abohar: Rukmani Riar, second Punjabi woman to serve as District Collector at Sriganganagar, surprised Jaspal Kaur, an elderly Punjabi woman, by accosting her at the interstate bus terminal recently. The DC inquired in chaste Punjabi about the class her granddaughter was studying in. The woman replied that the girl had dropped out of the school. She said her son was suffering from tuberculosis, due to which his wife had left the house along with her two sons, leaving behind their daughter. Due to poverty, it was not possible to educate her. After listening to her patiently, Riar assured the woman of making arrangements for her education and boarding in a government school. The woman later learnt the gentle woman she had talked to was the District Collector.
Getting the name wrong
Muktsar: The grand old man of Punjab politics, former Chief Minister and Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, is often seen targeting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in his public speeches. However, Badal regularly refers to him as ‘Kesriwal’. Recently, while speaking in his Lambi Assembly segment as part of his thanksgiving tour, Badal said: “Kesriwal and other are trying to capture the SGPC…,” much to the amusement of the audience.
Race for CLP leader’s post
Gurdaspur: The district has seven seats, out of which five are represented by Congress MLAs. Out of these, three legislators are in the race for the leader of the Congress legislature party who, in any case, will also be the Leader of the Opposition. They are two-time former MP and four-time MLA Partap Singh Bawja, five-time MLA Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who is also the senior-most member in the Vidhan Sabha, and former Deputy CM and four-time legislator Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. On the very face of it, Partap Bajwa possesses the seniority and experience and in addition has also remained the PCC chief. All three may well be left fuming if the AICC, known for its fickleness when it comes to making decisions, gives the post to somebody else.
Winning proposition
Gurdaspur: The AAP has taken the art of promoting its halqa incharges to a new level. The other day, Cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak gave legal sanctity to the concept by inviting them to his PWD guesthouse room to have direct confabulations with the Deputy Commissioner and other officials. Later, he called all five of them to his room and gave them some do’s and don’ts. This was enough for Congress men to point out AAP had indeed given an official tinge to the otherwise unconstitutional concept. Interestingly, the two party MLAs from this district stayed away. The word was they do not concur with their seniors to nominate losing candidates to such self-styled posts.
A kind gesture
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