Punjab Elections 2022 Updates: Amit Shah Meets Radha Soami Sect Chief, State CEO Holds Meet with Returning Officers for Polls

Punjab’s chief electoral officer S Karuna Raju on Wednesday held a review meeting with returning officers for the February 20 Assembly elections and directed them to ensure proper arrangements at polling stations following the poll panel’s instructions. The chief electoral officer directed officials to ensure the availability of masks, gloves, PPE kits, soaps, thermometers, and sanitisers at every polling station, according to an official release.

Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress president Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said he was not against the people of Pakistan but their rulers and the Army who were fomenting trouble here and killing Indian soldiers on the borders. Addressing public meetings in support of party candidates Farzana Alam from Malerkotla and Sardar Ali from Amargarh here, Singh said, these elections were going to decide the future of Punjab as the state was confronted by multiple challenges which could be faced by a “double engine” government only.

Ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday met the chief of Radha Soami Satsang Beas Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon at Beas, around 45 km from Amritsar. Shah, who was in Punjab on Wednesday for a poll rally, took to Twitter to share the information about the meeting. “Today met Radha Soami Satsang chief Baba Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon. “The work being done by Radha Soami Satsang Beas for humanity and social service by continuously awakening spiritual consciousness in the society for decades, is wonderful and inspiring in itself,” Shah tweeted in Punjabi.

Invoking Guru Ravidas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told voters in Punjab that the welfare of the poor is above everything else for his government which is following the saint’s ideals. He also said the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh were making all-out efforts to ensure that the pilgrims from Punjab and around the country, who are currently visiting Varanasi on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti, are facilitated in every manner. “Today is Sant Ravidas Jayanti. Before coming here, I went to Guru Ravidas Vishram Mandir (in Delhi) and sought blessings,” Modi said addressing a poll rally in Pathankot, Punjab. Notably, the mystic poet-reformer who preached against social prejudices enjoys a nationwide following, especially among Dalits, and the community members are present in large numbers in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh where assembly elections are being held.

“It’s a shameful statement. I condemn this. Wherever the people of Bihar and UP went, they made a place for themselves with hard work and contributed to the growth of their state,” Bihar Minister Sanjay Jha said in response to Punjab CM Channi’s reported remark ‘don’t let UP, Bihar ke bhaiya enter Punjab’.

Exuding confidence, Harish Rawat, former Punjab Congress in charge, in an exclusive interview with News18, said people will “strongly” vote for his party in the Punjab election, scheduled to be held on February 20, and “Punjabis will not go for an experiment”. With just two days after the Uttarakhand polling for the 70-seat Assembly, Rawat said the Congress is “winning Uttarakhand with at least 48 seats”, and the party will also claim the majority in Punjab. The past few months have been tumultuous for the Congress in Punjab with an alleged rift between Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Amarinder Singh, who eventually quit the post of the chief minister and the party, and Charanjit Singh Channi got the top post. During all this, Harish Rawat was the party’s state in charge. As claimed by him at the time, Rawat still said, “All is well within the Congress in Punjab”.

The ruling Congress faces a daunting task as it looks to retain its electoral tally in the Dalit-dominated Doaba region of Punjab where it confronts the twin challenges of the SAD’s well-oiled machinery and the AAP’s growing popularity particularly among the youth. Though many in the region express their liking for Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, the first Dalit to hold the post in the state, calling him “apna banda” (our man), not much groundswell for his party was visible. The BJP, which traditionally enjoys support in a few urban pockets, and the SAD are making all-out efforts to reap dividends in the fertile Doaba region in the February 20 polls. The AAP, which broke the monotonicity of the Punjab politics oscillating between the Congress and the SAD, is being seen as a harbinger of change by the youth in the region.

We are with you. We will speak with the Central Government regarding the obstacles. After speaking with everyone, we want a grand temple of Guruji Maharaj (Guru Ravidas) to come up there (in Delhi): AAP national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

The BJP on Wednesday launched an indirect attack on Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after the party shared a video of Kumar Vishwas alleging that the Delhi CM “wanted to be either the Punjab CM or the PM of Khalistan”. BJP leader Amit Malviya shared a video of former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas who recalled his conversation with Kejriwal. “One day, he told me he would either become CM (of Punjab) or first PM of an independent nation (Khalistan),” Former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas recounts his conversation with Arvind Kejriwal. This could be extremely dangerous, if AAP were to form Govt in Punjab,” Amit Malviya said in the tweet.

BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday paid tributes to Guru Ravidas on his birth anniversary, and cautioned against leaders paying obeisance at his birthplace in “Seer Govardhan” for selfish motives. In a statement issued by the BSP office here, the party supremo extended tributes to crores of followers of Ravidas living in the country and the world, and referred to the work done by her government in honour of the saint.

AAP national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and party’s CM face for the state, Bhagwant Mann visit Sat Guru Ravidass Dham in Bootan Mandi, Jalandhar on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday stoked a controversy when he said he won’t let “UP, Bihar ke bhaiyya” enter the state as a laughing, clapping Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — Congress incharge for UP — stood by him. READ MORE

Congress leader Manish Tiwari called the resignation of former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar “unfortunate” and said the ambition of Rajya Sabha seat makes people do such things.

“Wherever  BJP established itself, the remote control family (Congress) from Delhi was wiped out. Wherever there is peace, appeasement has been given a farewell, the same farewell has to be given in Punjab also,” Modi said.

“We see Punjab through the eyes of Punjabiyat, our opponents see Punjab through the lens of politics. Therefore, we got the privilege of developing the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor,” Modi said in Pathankot rally.

“Today developed countries of the world are facing all kinds of problems. Because of Covid, there is are problem of shortage in food. But during this crisis, India has been providing free ration to crores of countrymen. Free ration is being provided to lakhs of poor in Punjab for two years. I ask Punjab, give us five years,” Modi said in a rally in Pathankot.

“It is very shameful. We strongly condemn comments aimed at any individual or any particular community. Priyanka Gandhi also belongs to UP so she is also a ‘bhaiya’,” said AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Punjab CM Channi’s remark, “don’t let UP, Bihar ke bhaiya enter Punjab”.