In what could be a considerable setback to Peoples’ Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Badal, one of his closest aides and former officer on special duty publicly announced his decision to quit the fledgling party.
Mr Charanjit Brar, who had brushed aside his lifelong association with the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal to follow Manpreet Badal when he fell out with his cousin, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, and quit as Punjab’s finance minister last October, says “Manpreet has wavered from his promised path and is now openly indulging in family politics.”
According to him the former finance minister, who floated the Peoples’ Party of Punjab on Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s 80 death anniversary this March, “has surrounded himself with a coterie of cronies who are his relatives and doesn’t trust or seek advise from political veterans who joined him believing they would be respected in the new set up.”
Mr Brar claimed most senior leaders, including Sant Ajit Singh, Charanjit Channi, Manjinder Kang and Bir Devinder Singh, had also recently quit the Peoples’ Party of Punjab because “they felt betrayed by Manpreet Badal.”
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Kalyan list of 108 for UP elections out
AGE CORRESPONDENT
Lucknow
July 30: Former BJP leader Kalyan Singh on Saturday announced the names of 108 Assembly candidates who will contest the upcoming Assembly polls on his Jan Kranti Party ticket. Talking to reporters here on Saturday, Mr Kalyan Singh, who is the patron of the Jan Kranti Party, said that there was no question of his party entering into any alliance. “We will contest all 403 seats on our own,” he clarified.
Mr Rajvir Singh, president of the party, said that more than 35 caste representation had been made in the first list and all other castes would be given representation on the remaining seats. He said that 50 per cent tickets have been given to youths and he himself would contest from Dibai constituency in Bulandshahr.
The party president said that tickets had been finalised after due consideration and discussion with party cadres. Mr Singh said that women candidates would be nominated wherever they were in a position to contest.
He underlined that no criminals would be given tickets by his party.
To another query, Mr Kalyan Singh said that corruption and inflation would be the focal points of his party’s election campaign.