Chandigarh Dec 18 PTI One more person died from coronavirus in Punjab on Saturday as 28 fresh cases surfaced taking the states infection tally to 603917 according to a medical bulletin So far 16628 people have died from the infection in the state The death count includes a fatality which was not reported earlier Ludhiana Pathankot and Mohali reported five cases each followed by three each in Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar The number of active cases was 306 Forty-two more people recovered from the infection taking the number of those who have been cured to 586983 as per the bulletin Union Territory Chandigarh reported 17 cases taking its total count to 65695 A 35-year-old Covid-positive woman died on Saturday evening The number of active cases in the city was 85 while the number of cured persons was 64534 PTI CHS RDK RDK

Chandigarh Dec 18 PTI Farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Saturday floated his political party to contest the Punjab Assembly polls next year and batted for opium farming in the state The farmer leader told reporters here that their aim is to purify politics and bring good people forward Chaduni was a member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha SKM an umbrella body of 40 farm unions that led an over a year-long farmers agitation against the Centres three agriculture laws which have now been repealed We are launching the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party he told the media here adding that it will contest the Punjab Assembly polls Our objective will be to purify politics and bring good people forward said Chaduni who is also the president of the Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union Replying to a query Chaduni said he will not contest the polls in Punjab On entering into an alliance with any party he said there is no decision yet in this regard but his party will try to contest all 117 Assembly seats in the state He stressed on bringing changes in the farming sector in the state for creating more employment opportunities and sowing crops like flowers that have demand in the international market He also batted for opium farming in Punjab If opium farming is allowed Punjab can progress a lot he said On the occasion he slammed political leaders saying they frame policies in favour of capitalists while ignoring interests of the poor Politics is responsible for the capturing of the country by capitalists and also for making it difficult for a common man to fulfil his basic needs the farmer leader asserted He said there is a need to bring a change and to oust those people who are looting the country The Sanyukt Sangharsh Party will be a secular one he said adding that it will work for the welfare of all sections of society Farming business starting from sowing till the produce reaches consumers should be in farmers hands he said PTI CHS VSD RDK RDK

Chandigarh Dec 18 PTI Farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Saturday floated his political party and said it will contest the Punjab Assembly polls next year as their aim is to purify politics and bring good people forward Chaduni was a member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha SKM an umbrella body of 40 farm unions that led an over a year-long farmers agitation against the Centres three agriculture laws which have now been repealed We are launching the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party he told the media here adding that it will contest the Punjab Assembly polls Our objective will be to purify politics and bring good people forward said Chaduni who is also the president of the Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union Replying to a query Chaduni said he will not contest the polls in Punjab On entering into an alliance with any party he said there is no decision yet in this regard but his party will try to contest all 117 Assembly seats in the state On the occasion he slammed political leaders saying they frame policies in favour of capitalists while ignoring interests of the poor Politics is responsible for the capturing of the country by capitalists and also for making it difficult for a common man to fulfil his basic needs the farmer leader asserted He said there is a need to bring a change and to oust those people who are looting the country The Sanyukt Sangharsh Party will be a secular one he said adding that it will work for the welfare of all sections of society He stressed on bringing changes in the farming sector in the state for creating more employment opportunities and sowing such crops that have demand in the international market Farming business starting from sowing till the produce reaches consumers should be in farmers hands he said PTI CHS VSD RDK RDK

Chandigarh Dec 18 PTI Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Saturday took a swipe at incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu after a Pakistani drone was spotted near the international border and shot down by the BSFHe asked Chief Minister Channi to tell his Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa to get activeInstead of doing Bhangra all day CM Punjab should advice his home minister to get active and come out of denial mode Singh said in tweet also tagging a media report on the drone being shot downThe Chinese-made drone was detected and downed around 1110 PM Friday near the Wan border post in the Ferozepur sector the BSF said in a statementThe black colour flying object was shot at a distance of about 300 metres from the international border and 150 metres from the border fence it saidChief Minister Channi was spotted doing some Bhangra steps at an event earlier this week In September also he was seen performing Punjabs folk dance at an event in KapurthalaSingh also attacked Punjab Congress chief Sidhu in the same tweet Also tell your party president if he listens to you to ask his elder brother Imran Khan to stop trying to disturb our border state of Punjab he told Channi Sidhu a former international cricketer had last month called Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan a cricket world cup winning captain his bada bhai elder brother during a trip to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara across the border His remarks drew condemnation from the BJP and the SADSingh had resigned as chief minister of Punjab in September after a bitter power tussle with Sidhu He later formed his own party and has now joined hands with the BJP to fight the 2022 Punjab assembly polls PTI CHS VSD TIR TIR