Manpreet fighting a lonely battle; no good for Akalis either
The overhyped leader of the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) Manpreet Badal is finally finding the going getting tough for him. After the initial euphoria and utopia of ushering in a new order, the estranged nephew of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, is finding it difficult to survive as most of his trusted colleagues [...]
Akalis-BJP going for last minute realignment of ridings
As the final countdown for the elections to Punjab province begins, the political activity across the state is getting intensified. Various permutations and combinations are being worked out. While the Congress has decided to go it alone, the ruling Akali-BJP alliance has still kept its options open. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has made it [...]
Panth Rattan, Fakhr-e-Qaum to Badal raises a storm
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was conferred with the Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum award by the Akal Takhat. He happens to be the first person in the history to have been given this honour while being alive. However, the issue has generated more heat than Badal might have expected and may not prove to be [...]
Caught between two extremes; Badal’s Hamletian dilemma
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal seems to be caught in a Hamletian dilemma over so many things and that too when he is headed for a most decisive electoral battle of his life in couple of months from now. On the one hand he is faced with a powerful rebellion and now a strong [...]
Importance of being Balwant Singh Ramoowalia
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, the erstwhile and self-styled president of the Lok Bhalai Party (People’s Welfare Party), successfully exploited his “whatever value,’ all through his political career, to the best of his advantage and managed to derive a handsome bargain by making the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal writing to him to join the Akali [...]
Advani’s failed yatra in Punjab worries Akalis
That the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was on a weak wicket in Punjab this time was a widespread belief. But it would be so weak was established by the utter failure of the party to mobilise its cadres during the jan-chetna yatra (public awareness march) by its senior leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK [...]
Imran Khan — new blue-eyed boy of Pakistan army
When Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician formed his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI, the movement for justice) party, he received lot of notional support for the obvious reasons. He happened to be the most popular cricketer, rather the most popular person also, in Pakistan as he had won the cricket world cup for Pakistan, a country that is [...]
AFSPA: Playing politics by other means
Recently, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) may be withdrawn in some select districts from Kashmir, including the capital city of Srinagar. While the People’s Democratic Party, was taken a little aback, as it considered the demand (to withdraw AFSPA) to be its exclusive plank, [...]