Punjab elections: Poll Khol

Vinu Badal, the better-half of finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, is another spouse who has always been very active in her husband’s constituency. One of her favourite projects before the model code of conduct kicked in was the inauguration of a swimming pool in the premises of government school, Dhobiana Basti, on January 8, before the model code of conduct kicked in. The pool is picture perfect, so what if the water makes you go brrrr. The Badals sure hope it will make the constituents warm up to them.

Luv Kumar Goldy with Raninder Singh after joining PLC, Monday. (Express Photo)

Loyalty gold goes to Goldy

Former Garhshankar MLA Luv Kumar Goldy is one of those rare politicians who wear their loyalty on their sleeves. In June last year when Congress rebels were busy shooting off letters to the high command against then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, most legislators would respond to any question about leadership change with a polite “no comment”. But Goldy was different. When asked whether Capt should be replaced with Sidhu, he roared, “Am I a dangar (animal)? How can we give the top seat to a newbie in Congress when there are so many people who have spent their life working for it.” It came as no surprise when Goldy joined Capt’s Punjab Lok Congress along with his supporters on Monday. It was quite a contrast to the likes of Capt’s cousin Arvind Khanna and his close aide Rana Sodhi, MLA from Guru Har Sahai, who preferred to throw their lot with BJP and strengthen the hands of the saffron party instead of the fledgling PLC.

Kuljit Nagra & his dharam patni

Fatehgarh MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra, a former Panjab University union leader, has embraced the social media in chaste Punjabi and Hindi. Take a look of his Twitter handle and you will get a blow-by-blow account of his activities in his constituency. Equally active is his better-half Mandeep Kaur, who inaugurated a ‘dangal’ today. In a post, he thanks his “Dharam patni” for canvassing door to door. With all the weather apps flashing a “Red warning for cold day”, it must have been quite a feat for Mandeep Nagra as she walked from one gate to the other while Nagra addressed meetings in cosy rooms.