Congress’s new Punjab affairs incharge meets Capt\, Jakhar\, 2 miffed party MPs

Congress’s new Punjab affairs incharge meets Capt, Jakhar, 2 miffed party MPs

Amarinder Singh flew to Delhi to meet Harish Rawat. He left the state for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic had broken out in March.

Written by Kanchan Vasdev | Chandigarh | September 16, 2020 10:22:13 am

punjab, punjab politics, amarinder singh, amarinder singh meets harish rawat, harish rawat congress incharge of punjab, indian express

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh. (File Photo)

Amid simmering infighting within the Punjab Congress, party’s Punjab affairs incharge Harish Rawat held meetings with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar , Rajya Sabha MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo in Delhi on Tuesday.

Amarinder flew to Delhi to meet Rawat. Both discussed party issues in the state in the presence of Jakhar. The meeting continued for over an hour. Dullo and Bajwa met Rawat separately. Amarinder left the state for the first time ever since Covid-19 pandemic had broken out in March.

Rawat told the CM that he would visit the state after September 21, after he was told that Punjab was likely to give more relaxations in the restrictions about gatherings by that time. He would also pay visit to Golden Temple and Durgiana Temple in Amritsar during his visit, sources said.

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Sources in Congress said while discussing Punjab Congress, Rawat did not raise former Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu but brought up Bajwa and Dullo and asked Amarinder and Jakhar about the issues that were rattling them. It is learnt that the AICC has referred to Amarinder’s complaint against the duo to Rawat.

While Sidhu has not been on the same page with the CM, Bajwa and Dullo too have raised a banner of revolt against the CM. After the hooch tragedy, they had met the Governor and sought a CBI inquiry into the matter. Since then both have been bashing the CM on several issues.

After meeting the CM and PPCC chief, Rawat met both Bajwa and Dullo. Both are learnt to have told Rawat that they wanted the Congress government to fulfil pre-poll promises including action in Bargari sacrilege and elimination of mafias including sand, liquor, transport and drugs.

Both the leaders are learnt to have told Rawat that government’s image was hit in the state especially after hooch tragedy and SC Scholarship Scam. They told him that they did not have any personal enmity against anyone and they were willing to sit across the tale provided that these issues are sorted. Otherwise the party will lose the perception game in the next Assembly election, they said.

Rawat is learnt to have told the leaders that he was taking the infighting as his biggest challenge and he would like to bring all the factions on the same page. His intention came clear on Tuesday when he called all party senior leaders for separate meetings with him.

“He made use of the Lok Sabha session and has started meeting the leaders. He means business,” said a party leader on anonymity.

“Amarinder and Rawat know each other well. It was not that they were meeting for the first time. They were in Lok Sabha together before Amarinder became the CM. Today’s meeting was more about knowing the state,” said another leader.

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Congress’s new Punjab affairs incharge meets Capt\, Jakhar\, 2 miffed party MPs

UP Coronavirus, Not Begging For Alms - Covid Patients At UP Hospital Complain About Food

"Not Begging For Alms": Covid Patients At UP Hospital Complain About Food

The District Magistrate twice questioned local officials about the quality of food being served to patients; both responses were inaudible

The district magistrate, Ravindra Kumar, promised prompt action to the patients

Lucknow:

A senior administrative official in western Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district went on an inspection of the government-run SSMJ Hospital - where asymptomatic Covid patients are admitted - in the town of Khurja on Tuesday evening.

The official - District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar - decided to take the media along. What followed was a striking conversation with a group of patients (social distancing protocols were followed) about the quality of food.

Some patients also said they were made to feel like beggars.

"I asked for milk and the response from someone sitting here in the corner was - 'kya shor macha rakha hai (what a fuss you are making)'. So I said 'shor nahin macha rakha hai (I am not making a fuss)'. I am asking for food for my child, I am not begging you for alms," a patient told the district magistrate.

"I can get 500 litres milk here... I am from a well-heeled family but at the moment I am helpless. I will leave in a day or two but I request you, with folded hands, that better food arrangements should be made," the patient added.

Mr Kumar asked officials accompanying him where the patients' food came from. The response, captured on a video shot with mobile phones, was inaudible. The official then asked patients what they got for food.

"In the morning we get dalia in polythene bags. One day there was halwa with chana," a patient replied

"Why do you give food in polythene bags? Why don't you give packed food?" the district magistrate asked the officials again. The response, again, was inaudible.

"Sir, the dal is also very watery. The quality is just too bad. How much should I complain?" another patient asked.

"The CMS came for an inspection yesterday. Did he take any feedback from you?" Mr Kumar then asked the patients. The reply - no, he did not.

"There will be improvement in the food. There are middlemen... that is why there is a problem. If the doctors do not come on two rounds every day, all my control room and I will get things sorted," the district magistrate assured patients before leaving.

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Coronavirus Uttar Pradesh