India Narrative

  Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has claimed that his income during the five years of Congress rule in the state has declined in comparison to his earnings before 2017,  in an affidavit on his assets and liabilities filed with the Election Commission for the February 20 polls. Channi, who is contesting from Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur seats has declared assets worth Rs 9.44 crore with an annual income of Rs 27.8 lakh. But in the affidavit filed for the 2017 elections, his annual income in 2015-16 was stated at Rs 1.46 crore which is more than five times higher than his income in 2020-21. His wife Dr. Kamaljit Kaur earned Rs 26 lakhs during the same period. Channi has declared Rs 1.5 lakh cash in hand and his wife has Rs 50000 cash in hand. Sukhbir  Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal contesting from Jalalabad has declared assets worth Rs 122.77 crore including Rs. 71.56 crores owned by his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, former Union Minister. In 2020-21 Sukhbir earn...

  The fight for the chief minister’s post between Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Channi came to the centrestage during senior leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state on Thursday to kick off the party’s poll campaign. On the stage set in Jalandhar for the launching of the virtual campaign rally, in the presence of the senior leadership, the PPCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Channi urged Rahul to declare the CM candidate of the Congress before the elections. Rahul who had come to launch the campaign by outlining the party’s  programme if it comes to power in the state, ended up mostly talking about the need to unitedly fight the election. He was also made to announce that very soon the Congress will declare its Chief Ministerial candidate be it Sidhu or Channi. Sunil Jakhar's name was not mentioned although until now the party had been saying that the election will be fought under the joint leadership of Sidhu,...

The decision of the Shiromani Akali Dal to field Bikramjit Singh Majithia against his arch foe and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Amritsar (East) assembly constituency has electrified the election campaign in the state. While Majithia will contest from the Amritsar (East) constituency, he is playing it safe also contesting from his pocket borough Majitha in the assembly election. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Sukhbir Singh Badal and there is no dearth of resources at his command for fighting the poll campaign.  The rivalry between Sidhu and the 45-year-old Majithia seems to go beyond politics as the personal animosity between the two young leaders surfaces very frequently. Apart from issuing public statements against each other, the duo have engaged in wordy duels on the floor of the Punjab assembly.  Sidhu has been accusing Majithia of being neck-deep in the drug trade and has openly been stating that he should be put behind bars for life. Sidhu has b...

 The Congress party has not been able to get rid of dynastic politics as is evident from the allotment of tickets for the forthcoming Punjab Assembly elections. Almost all the ruling political families which had found representation in the successive Congress governments have again managed to get party tickets for their relatives to contest the assembly elections. There is considerable heartburn over the issue among genuine party workers who toiled for the party all these years and were expecting to contest in the polls as Congress candidates. Be it Navjot Singh Sidhu Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president, Sunil Jakkhar former PPCC president, Lal Singh former minister, Ravneet Bittu sitting MP and grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister the late Beant Singh, or Rajinder Kaur Bhattal former Chief Minister, all have managed to get their relatives tickets to contest as Congress candidates. In violation of the much propagated one-family one-ticket norm, the party has allo...

  The Enforcement Directorate (ED) claims to have unearthed dubious transactions to the tune of Rs 68 crore between Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey and his associates. The investigative agency has also seized an unaccounted amount of Rs 10 crore in hard cash, gold worth Rs 21 lakh and a Rolex watch valued at Rs 12 lakh in the raid carried out on Honey’s premises. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken into possession papers and computers which show that the dubious transactions have taken place. Documents pertaining to investments in real estate are also being scrutinised. According to sources, in the coming days, ED may zero in on a cabinet minister who faced allegations of patronising the mining mafia when he held the mining portfolio in the Captain Amarinder Singh government. At least two sitting MLAs are also under the ED scanner. There is palpable tension in the Channi cabinet as ED is expanding its net every day. The minin...

  Punjab Pradesh Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu has failed in his attempt to keep out tainted leaders from getting tickets to contest  the state assembly elections as the names of several party candidates announced by the party in its first list are either facing charges of corruption or are allegedly involved in scams. However, all these tainted candidates deny the allegations levelled against them. Sham Sundar Arora, in the poll fray from Hoshiarpur, faced allegations of selling government land worth several crores to a private party at a throwaway price. He was at the time the Industries minister in the Captain Amarinder Singh government. He was dropped from the cabinet by the new incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi. Former minister Balbir Sidhu contesting from Mohali has been accused of grabbing government land in villages besides the tiles scandal. Navtej Cheema fielded from Sultanpur Lodhi, too, is a tainted name as he was accused of misappropriating the funds of a r...