BSP announces candidates for Fatehgarh Sahib, Bathinda Lok Sabha seats in Punjab

Hoshiarpur:  Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday announced two more candidates for Punjab for the Lok Sabha polls. The party fielded Kulwant Singh Mehto from Fatehgarh Sahib parliamentary constituency and Lakhveer Singh Nika from the Bathinda seat. Punjab BSP president Jasvir Singh Garhi on Thursday said that Nika, who is the party’s district head from Bathinda, will contest from Bathinda constituency. Mehto, currently serving as the secretary of the state unit, will fight from Fatehgarh Sahib seat. Garhi said that BSP has, so far, declared the names of nine candidates. Polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the last phase on June 1.

Several Congress, SAD leaders joins BJP

Chandigarh: Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on Thursday welcomed several high-profile political figures into the party fold. Among them is Rahul Singh Sidhu, a prominent political leader from Muktsar, and other political workers from Congress and SAD. Rahul Singh Sidhu, son of former Muktsar MLA Harnirpal Singh (Kuku), has been an active figure in politics for over two decades. He contested as Congress candidate from Kotkapura in 2022 Punjab assembly elections, and has held esteemed positions such as a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission and president of the District Bar Association Muktsar. His uncle Bhai Shaminder Singh, is also a respected former parliamentarian from Faridkot. SAD’s senior state vice-president Vipin Sood Kaka (from Ludhiana) also joined the BJP — marking a notable transition of key political figures towards the BJP, further solidifying the party's influence in Punjab.

After denying compensation to farmers, CM sprinkling salt on their wounds by not lifting crop from mandis: Sukhbir

Malout/Muktsar: SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said that after denying compensation to farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was sprinkling salt on their wounds by not lifting their hard-earned wheat produce resulting in complete clogging of all grain markets in the State. Sukhbir, who visited Mahuana and Malout grain markets in the district, witnessed firsthand how farmers are being harassed. He also interacted with farmers and assured them that in case lifting of wheat was not started from ‘mandis’ the SAD would agitate to ensure justice was done to them. In a frontal attack on chief minister Bhagwant Mann, he said that it was shocking that while farmers were suffering in the grain markets, the Chief Minister was visiting Assam and Gujarat. “Farmers are already reeling from non-payment of compensation for damage to wheat during hail storms earlier. Now when they have brought their harvest to the market they are facing difficulties in getting in procured,” he added.

Bajwa accused Mann of reneging from its MSP promise

Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday lambasted Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for shamelessly reneging from its pre-assembly-poll promises of providing MSP on 23 crops. “In an interview with a private media platform, CM Mann said that he cannot provide MSP because it is the Union Government that is supposed to provide MSP. Mann said that he can only provide the farmers with compensation,” said Bajwa. He said that before the assembly elections in the state, Mann and Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Mann had vowed to procure 23 crops at MSP once the AAP formed the government. They used to condemn the Congress government for not providing MSP, he added. “After winning the assembly elections, Mann committed to procuring Moong Dal crop at MSP, however, he failed terribly to keep his promise. Consequently, the farmers were forced to sell their crops to private players at lower prices,” said Bajwa, adding that Mann has no moral ground to go to the farmers and seek their votes as he has failed to fulfil his promises to the farmers.

AAP Govt put Punjab deep into debt: BJP candidate

Bhatinda:  “AAP Punjab Government’s promise to make state drug-free has turned out to be completely false. By voting for AAP, people of the state are feeling cheated. In two years, the AAP Government has sunk the state deep into debt,” said the BJP candidate from Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency retired IAS Parampal Kaur Sidhu, during her election campaigns at Mansa on Thursday. She said that the alarming fact is that the government doesn't even have any funds to pay salaries to its employees. “Development has come to a complete standstill. Development work in villages is being carried out only with funds from the Central Government led by Narendra Modi,” she said, adding that not even a month had passed since the start of the financial year, yet the Punjab government has taken loans worth hundreds of crores.