For a party whose politics has traditionally been dominated by veteran male leaders, the SAD for the past few days witnessed a visible change. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the party’s lone Lok Sabha MP, was seen leading the Punjab Bachao rally at Issuru, Guru Harsahai and Longowala following the attack on her husband and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal inside a gurdwara in Maharashtra’s Nanded, as the party prepares for the 2027 state Assembly elections. However, Sukhbir was back on August 25, reassumed the charge and addressed rallies at Malot and Baba Bakala. Harsimrat was conspicuous by her absence.
LoP takes potshots at AAP over rising debt
Senior Congress leader and LoP Partap Singh Bajwa recently invoked Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib to take a swipe at the cash-strapped AAP-led Punjab government. After the state government secured a fresh loan of `2000 crore, Bajwa took to X and posted, “Peete hain mai udhaar ki, kehte hain rang laayegi, ek din faqua-masti hamari.’ He went on to add, “Under @BhagwantMann, it looks like a policy. Yet another `2,000 crore borrowing by the @AAP Punjab government today. CM Bhagwant Mann’s model of governance seems simple: borrow more, advertise more, enjoy more and leave Punjab with a bigger debt burden.’’
Himachal again borrows its way into debt
With liabilities already crossing `1L crore, the Himachal Pradesh government will be raising another loan of `700 crore through the RBI to meet its committed liabilities and development needs. A notification in this regard was issued by the Department of Finance on Saturday. The loan will be availed at an interest rate of 7.56% per annum for 13 years. CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that it will help pay legacy loans inherited from the previous BJP government and fund development. Sukhu has highlighted the financial distress being faced by the state, particularly following the withdrawal of the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) by the Centre from the current FY.
Harpreet Bajwa
Our correspondent in Chandigarh
hsbajwa73@gmail.com
