Implement Anandpur Sahib Resolution: Sukhbir Badal

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Implement Anandpur pact: Sukhbir

Varinder Walia

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 21

Immediately after his swearing-in, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal would continue to fight for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, including the transfer of Chandigarh and other left-out Punjabi speaking areas into Punjab, apart from a fair adjudication of inter-state river waters.

To a question, Badal Junior confirmed that demands enshrined in the resolution would be part of their manifesto. He said if voted to power at the Centre, the NDA would accept the just demands of Punjab and Punjabis.

Listing out his priorities, he said the Punjab government would make relentless efforts to weed out corruption in the administration. "A war against drugs would be launched."

The Deputy Chief Minister, while outlining his vision to make Punjab a role model with emphasis on good governance, administrative reforms, agricultural and industrial growth and making the governing system more accountable and transparent. He said bureaucrats would have to be accountable by bringing transparency in their working.

In a firm voice, Sukhbir said those who did not fulfil people's aspirations or were found to be less than honest should be ready to face the consequences. However, he did not entertain any query regarding former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

He emphasised there was no place for vendetta in a democracy. "The SAD culture is one of forgiveness. But, if anyone has broken the law, then law itself is strong enough to take care of him."

"I start with the divine blessings of the great Gurus and I pray that Almighty may give me strength to prove myself equal to the honour given to me," he said.

Education will be made the central component of government policies. "Already, a lot is being done. We would redouble our efforts in that direction. This, along with freeing our youth from the menace of drugs and similar other evils, would receive my personal attention."

"Infrastructure development is seeing an unparallelled transformation. My effort will be to ensure that the pace of work on these projects is stepped up further," the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Initiatives have been taken for making Punjab a power surplus state and ensuring 24-hour power supply to the industry, domestic consumers and the farm sector and "I will devote all my energies to help the government achieve this goal". On the dismal industrial growth, Sukhbir said the trade and industry in Punjab needed a bailout. "Unfortunately, both have suffered because of the flawed and discriminatory policies of the UPA government. Once the NDA is powered at the Centre, we would make sure that Punjab gets the same trade and industrial concessions, which are given to our its neighbouring states," he said.

Badal's pact demand anti-national: Raninder

SP Sharma/Tribune News Service

Balianwali (Bathinda), January 25

Criticising Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for harping on the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, Congress general secretary Raninder Singh today said he was raising such "anti-national" slogans before the Lok Sabha elections to divert people's attention from criticism of induction of his son Sukhbir Badal as Deputy Chief Minister.

Raninder, son of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, was addressing a party workers' meeting here. He said the BJP owed an explanation to people why was it supporting the Badal government when its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani had termed the Anandpur Sahib resolution a separatist activity in his book, "My Country, My Life". The BJP should clarify its stand on the contentious issue.

On his candidature for the Bathinda LS seat, Raninder said although local activists of the party were in his favour, a decision lay in the hands of party high command Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, Raninder said although the UPA government was providing liberal funds to Punjab, Badal was always cribbing about shortage of grants. MLAs Ajaib Singh Bhatti and Makhan Singh said Badal was claiming credit for development and beautification grants of Rs 100 crore each for Takht Damdama Sahib and Anandpur Sahib complex received from the Centre.

[Guest shastr]

is this the same matta that was present during the times of dharam yudh? like the one with the no licence needed for ur shastr's. is this that same one or a revised version?

if this is the same matta, i think we might be on to something here......

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Badal's pact demand anti-national: Raninder

SP Sharma/Tribune News Service

Balianwali (Bathinda), January 25

Criticising Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for harping on the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, Congress general secretary Raninder Singh today said he was raising such "anti-national" slogans before the Lok Sabha elections to divert people's attention from criticism of induction of his son Sukhbir Badal as Deputy Chief Minister.

Raninder, son of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, was addressing a party workers' meeting here. He said the BJP owed an explanation to people why was it supporting the Badal government when its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani had termed the Anandpur Sahib resolution a separatist activity in his book, "My Country, My Life". The BJP should clarify its stand on the contentious issue.

On his candidature for the Bathinda LS seat, Raninder said although local activists of the party were in his favour, a decision lay in the hands of party high command Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, Raninder said although the UPA government was providing liberal funds to Punjab, Badal was always cribbing about shortage of grants. MLAs Ajaib Singh Bhatti and Makhan Singh said Badal was claiming credit for development and beautification grants of Rs 100 crore each for Takht Damdama Sahib and Anandpur Sahib complex received from the Centre.

SAD will fight for Anandpur Resolution's implementation: Badal

Jalandhar, Jan 24: The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal will continue to fight for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which includes the merger of Chandigarh with Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said here on Saturday.

"We have strong ties with NDA and we will make all alliance partners, including BJP, understand the importance of Anandpur Resolution for Punjab so that it could be included in the Common Minimum Programme," Badal told reporters.

The resolution includes the merger of Chandigarh and other "left-out" Punjabi speaking areas into the state.

However, he tried to play down L K Advani's comment on the resolution in his book "My Country My Life" where he termed it as "separatist's activity".

Badal also advocated for stringent law to deal with corruption.

"There should be stringent laws to deal with corruption and eradicate it from all levels. If needed, amendments would be made to the existing laws," he said.

However, rejecting his deputy and son Sukhbir Badal's call to launch a "drive against corruption from the bottom level", the Chief Minister said, "let us start it from upper level to make bureaucracy and political leadership more accountable."

"Corruption has unfortunately become the way of life and it should be dealt with both legally and morally," he said adding, present laws were not capable to deal with the menace and there was a need to make them stronger.

Asked whether Vikramjit Singh Majithia, who resigned from the state cabinet recently to pave way for the induction of Sukhbir as Deputy Chief Minister, would be accommodated, Badal said "the party will look into the suitable probabilities for him."

Bureau Report

http://www.zeenews.com/states/2009-01-24/501434news.html

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

'Anandpur pact no separatist agenda'

Chander Parkash

Tribune News Service

Kahnuwan, January 29

Undeterred by criticism from none else than alliance partner BJP of his advocacy for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today claimed that it was not a separatist agenda.

Earlier, reacting to the statement of Badal that he would make the BJP leadership understand the importance of the Anandpur Sahib resolution, its state president Rajinder Bhandari had criticised the Chief Minister in an oblique manner.

Badal, who visited the town as part of his vikas yatra, said the resolution envisaged more autonomy to states. It could provide for a federal system of administration in the country and could be used as a tool for the progress of any state and eradication of poverty.

The resolution did not carry separatist tendencies and hence the SAD was having no differences with the BJP leadership over this issue, he added. Addressing a rally here, Badal announced Rs 3-crore grant for development projects in the area.

Prominent among those who attended that rally were Vinod Khanna, MP, and Sewa Singh Sehkwan, former minister. Sucha Singh Langah, Agriculture Minister, was not present. Badal said a memorial would be raised at Kahnuwan "chammb" in the memory of 1,1000 Sikhs, who attained martyrdom during the Chotta Ghallughara in 1746.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

BJP rejects SAD demand on Anandpur Resolution

Chandigarh , Jan 30 Punjab&aposs ruling BJP today rejected its alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal&aposs (SAD) demand for implementation of the controversial Anandpur Sahib Resolution passed by the Akalis in the 1970s, saying it would be a"step towards disintegration of the nation".

"It (the Resolution) is a step towards disintegration. The resolution passed in seventies is not acceptable to the BJP,"chairman of the election campaign committee of Punjab BJP Balramji Dass Tandon told a press conference here.

Tandon said the resolution had been interpreted in different ways with no clear approach coming out of it.

" Some spoke of setting up of a separate state while others spoke of more powers for the state and another view point veered around to defence, finance and foreign affairs being with the Centre and the rest of affairs managed by the state," Tandon said while elaborating the reasons behind the party&aposs refusal.

" With so many different interpretations, this does not tally with the view point of the BJP,"the former state minister said.

" Instead of referring to the Anandpur Sahib resolution, they (SAD) should clearly say what they want,"he said adding BJP was ready to discuss any issue with its alliance partner.

On differences with the alliance partner SAD, Tandon said it was not necessary for the alliance partner to have identical views on all the issues.

"The alliance partners have a Common Minimum Programme mutually agreed to both and they also pursue their own agenda,"he said.

http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/la...National/1/20/1

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Anandpur Pact

CM's demand anti-national: Khaira

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 30

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira has alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was raking up the demand for the implementation of controversial Anandpur Sahib resolution to woo Sikh voters in the coming elections and said it would disintegrate the nation.

"Why Badal did not utter a single word on Anandpur Sahib Resolution when the NDA was in power at the Centre and the state was having the SAD-BJP government," Bholath MLA Khaira has said.

When asked whether the Congress was interested in the implementation of Rajiv-Longowal Accord, which contains nearly 45 demands, including transfer of Chandigarh and other Punjabi-speaking areas to Punjab, Khaira said: "Yes, the Congress still wants the implementation of the accord that was rejected by the Akalis".

Meanwhile, Khaira demanded a probe into the misuse of Rural Development Fund (RDF) by the Chief Minister and said he would raise the issue in the next assembly session.

"The fund was constituted by deducting 2 per cent market fees and 2.5 per cent rural development fees on the total sale of good grain in the state and was particularly aimed to provide and promote better agriculture facilities under the Punjab Rural Development Act, 1987," he said. Khaira alleged that the same fund was being distributed by the chief minister for other purposes, including grants to health clubs and other religious organisations, to woo voters.

Anandpur pact can't be on alliance programme: Tandon

Jangveer Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 30

The Anandpur Sahib resolution is set to become a bone of contention between the ruling coalition partners in Punjab with senior BJP leader Balramji Das Tandon today saying that the issue of its implementation, as stressed recently by the SAD, could not become part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the coalition in the coming parliamentary polls.

The BJP leader, who was here to attend a party training camp, also stressed that the SAD should come clean what it means by implementing the Anandpur resolution as it was being interpreted in different ways by different people.

Tandon also made it clear that every party had its own agenda but when one talked about a combined agenda of a coalition, only issues of common interest could be taken up. "We will discuss only the CMP at common platforms," he said, indicating the BJP would not allow discussion of the resolution by its Akali partners on any common public platform.

The BJP leader also made it clear that the BJP did not stand by the Anandpur resolution. "We do not subscribe to it", he said, adding that this was the view of the state unit also. Tandon, who also heads the election committee of the party, said Navjot Singh Sidhu would be the party's candidate from Amritsar. There was no talk with the SAD on letting former minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia contest this seat and make Sidhu a star campaigner of the party. The party would fight its allotted seats of Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur.

[Harsimrat Singh]

Interesting! :gg:

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

State to benefit: Sukhbir

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 30

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said today that there was nothing anti-national in the Anandpur Sahib resolution.

Sukhbir, who was interacting with media persons during his first visit here after being inducted in the cabinet, said the resolution was for the benefit of the state and even remotely it did not seek to fan separatism.

He said more leaders in other parts of the country had joined Punjab in seeking more financial powers for the states and the issue would gradually take the shape of a movement.

He accused the UPA government of discriminating the opposition-ruled states as a result of which the demand for more financial powers to the states had gained strength.

Punjab was contributing about 65 per cent foodgrain to the country's food basket, but the price fixed for procurement was a pittance and the peasantry was suffering losses. No steps have been taken by the Centre to revive industry and pull the farmers out of debt. The reduction of Rs 5 and Rs 2 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel, respectively, was meagre in view of a steep decline in the prices of crude oil at the international level.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

is this the same matta that was present during the times of dharam yudh? like the one with the no licence needed for ur shastr's. is this that same one or a revised version?

if this is the same matta, i think we might be on to something here......

Until anything is actually done about implementing the Anandpur Sahib Resolution besides mentioning it in a speech or press conference, that too before elections, the majority of Sikhs will see it merely as a political stunt.

Such issues are often brought up at various times in the past as well by the ruling political parties or during elections in order to gain support and votes of certain communities who they want to target.

The situation in Panjab (perhaps in most politics) is such that action and effect is required for any proclamation to be taken seriously.

[HSD*^]

yeah i'm not going to hold my breath. growing up in britain taught me one thing at least - never trust a politician.