AMRITSAR: The attack on Lt Gen (retd) KS Brar renewed the debate on Punjab government’s decision to allow the construction of a memorial dedicated to militants killed during the Operation Bluestar in Amritsar’s Golden Temple in 1984. Though the construction is going on in full swing, the Sikh community is still divided over it. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (B) has been giving tacit support... 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president, Ashwani Sharma, today demanded a memorial on the lines of Jallianwala Bagh in memory of innocent persons killed during the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism era in the state. He said during the decade-long terrorism, hundreds of people from all religions, political parties, social groups, the media and those in the police were killed. He said a peace memorial... 

With RSS hardliner Bakshi Ram Arora (70) being ‘unanimously’ elected the Amritsar Mayor, the junior partner in the ruling alliance in Punjab, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has finally managed to force the stand it had taken on the Shiromani Akali Dal. In the 65-member Amritsar Municipal Corporation, SAD with 25 seats has a slight edge over the BJP, which has 24 members. However, instead of the saffron... 

In a show of strength during its public rally at Maur Mandi on Thursday, Shiromani Akali Dal, a key ally of the NDA, has set the political agenda for the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal called upon the people to give a befitting reply to the “discriminatory and apathetic attitude” of the Congress-led UPA Government by showing them the door to install... 

MANSA: In an apparent setback for the Congress, former Congress MLA Mangat Rai Bansal joined the Shiromani Akali Dal on Tuesday. Considered a firebrand Hindu leader of the district, Bansal was elected as Congress MLA in 2007 elections from Budhlada in Mansa, but had lost to SAD’s Janmeja Singh Sekhon in 2012 elections from Maur assembly segment. News Source: Times of India  Read More »

A month-long campaign for early detection of cancer will be launched on a pilot basis in Faridkot district of Punjab on October 2. The door-to-door campaign would be extended in the entire state during December, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today. The campaign, which will involve over 50,000 personnel, will seek to create awareness about early symptoms for detection of the disease. The massive... 

A day after a youth allegedly shot at a suspect in a lock-up at the Sahnewal police station, the police beefed up security in Sahnewal and surrounding areas on Saturday. They also held a flag march in Sahnewal, Focal Point, Dhandhari, Jamalpur and Sherpur area. The police have related stories man hurt in firing in police station deployed around 500 personnel in these areas to avoid any untoward incident.... 

Amid reports of a possible change at the head the state Congress, Captain Amarinder Singh has been more visible than ever as the aggressive leader taking up public causes. Recently, he asked people to protest against the hike in electricity tariff by not paying the arrears on their bills. The Congress has lost three consecutive elections under his leadership — Assembly, municipal and then an Assembly... 

The People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) may see more desertions with its official spokesman and former legislator Bir Devinder Singh today calling party chief Manpreet Singh Badal ‘individualistic and autocratic’. Bir Devinder’s statement comes at a time when the PPP president was getting ready to take on SAD’s Harsimrat Badal in the Bathinda parliamentary constituency. Bir Devinder complained... 

JALANDHAR: A District Court of US has issued Summons for visiting Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is currently visiting US, on the charges of police custodial torture and shielding the Police officers, DGP Sumedh Saini and others who are responsible for the extra judicial killings and continuous human rights violations, on a lawsuit filed by Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a human rights advocacy...