Punjab Diary: Proximity with leaders

Jalandhar: As the elections are nearing, almost all big hotels in the city have a good occupancy as leaders of all parties have been touring to Jalandhar. But there is a common halt point for the bigwigs of all parties - Hotel Radisson — where AAP’s Bhagwant Mann, SAD’s Sukhbir Badal and BJP’s Vijay Rupani prefer to stay. On last Thursday night, all three leaders had a night stay in the hotel. Hotel owner Gautam Kapoor is known to have proximity with leaders of all parties. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi was here on Friday, hotelier Gautam was among the chosen few from the city to get a chance to meet him back stage.

Rivals rattled after PM’s rally

Pathankot: Till May 24 when PM Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Dinanagar, Congress men had been claiming that it was a cakewalk for them as far as winning the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat was concerned. However, the same Congress men were unnerved when Modi drew in a huge crowd. Phone calls were placed to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Both are said to be unavailable.

Campaigning on scooter

Mansa: Independent candidate from Bathinda Bhagwant Singh Samao is campaigning on his scooter in villages of Mansa. While campaigning, he has also been asking people to give him funds to take on mighty rival candidates. Justifying, Samao says this is not a protest where only mike and floor rug are required. In the Lok Sabha polls, you need many things for campaigning, so he is asking for people’s help as he is fighting for them.

Harsimrat’s challenge to CM

Muktsar: Three-time Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is seeking the fourth term, has challenged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to spend an hour in any village without his security. She has claimed that people will teach him a lesson and if it proves otherwise, she will leave politics. Let’s see what Mann has to say on this.

(Contributed by Deepkamal Kaur, Ravi Dhaliwal, Sukhmeet Singh and Archit Watts )

#Bhagwant Mann