Chandigarh Jan 30 PTI Punjab politics iron lady and the states only woman chief minister so far Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal exudes confidence about winning the Lehra seat in the assembly polls and says her opponent Parminder Singh Dhindsa of the SAD Sankyut is just a Modi representativeThe 76-year-old Bhattal had been winning the seat since 1992 until she lost the poll in 2017 to Dhindsa who is now leader of the SAD Sanyukt which is headed by his father and veteran leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and is seeking re-election from the segmentHowever the Congress veteran and five-time legislator is eyeing to wrest the seat from Parminder who had shifted his seat from Sunam to Lehra in 2017 to contest against Bhattal He is Modis numayanda representative she saysThe BJP has a tie-up with the SAD Sanyukt and former chief minister Amarinder Singh led Punjab Lok Congress PLC for the February 20 pollsAmong others in the fray from Lehra also known as Lehragaga include AAPs Brindar Kumar Goyal and SADs Gobind Singh Longowal a former SGPC president The contest in the constituency which has traditionally been between the Congress and SAD until 2017 has been spiced up with the entry of AAPIn the wake of the Election Commissions Covid-induced restrictions on holding rallies Bhattal has been addressing small meetings in the constituencyIn her speeches the Dhindsas are at the centre of her attack while she also does not spare other opponents including the BJP former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Aam Aadmi Party from her broadsideDespite her age Bhattals campaign schedule is packed and her public addresses are sharp where she takes on the oppositionI have a dream of making my constituency a model one among all the constituencies in the entire state Bhattal tells a gathering of locals in the assembly segment while appealing to people to elect her and strengthen the Congress handsThe Congress will return to power with an overwhelming majority and common people are appreciating several decisions which the Charanjit Singh Channis government took for welfare of various sections during a short stint of 111 days before the Model Code of Conduct came into force with the poll announcement Bhattal told PTIWhat Channi did in less than four months many could not achieve that in years says the Congress loyalist whose son-in-law Vikram Bajwa has been fielded by the party from SahnewalWhile recalling her own term in 1996-97 when she got a nearly three-month term as chief minister Bhattal praises Channi for not just making announcements but ensuring his government issues notifications to immediately implement thoseBhattal had succeeded Harcharan Singh Brar as CM towards the end of 1996 before the Shiromani Akali Dal led government came to power after polls in 1997During her poll campaign she hits out at Dhindsas and Amarinder Singh over their tie-up with BJPCapt Amarinder Dhindsa and company will be routed in these polls Capt and Dhindsa are dubte suraj setting sun says Bhattal with part of her attack directed at Amarinder with whom she never really enjoyed cordial relations and had sought his removal when he was in his first-term as CM 2002-07Amarinder Singh who had been at loggerheads with Navjot Singh Sidhu was made to resign by the Congress last year after which he floated his outfit PLCBhattal tells the gathering that Amarinder and Dhindsa are dancing to the tunes of BJP which was responsible for bringing farm laws against which farmers from Punjab and elsewhere agitated for more than one year forcing the Centre to rollback the legislationsOver 700 of our farmers died during the agitation What answer will they give to the people she asksTaking on the Aam Aadmi Party she says many of their MLAs deserted the party and recently the outfits Ferozepur Rural candidate Ashu Banger had quit the party after being allocated a ticket and joined the CongressBhattal also said the AAP was anxious after Sanyukt Samaj Morcha a platform of farmers organisations decided to contest the polls and not support themShe also slammed the AAP for having divergent stand on various issues concerning Punjab including water issuesBhattal recalls development works she undertook in the constituency as MLA including construction of bridges and irrigation facility for several villages and other works done in the health and education sectorPTI SUN VSD DV DV

Chandigarh Aug 31 PTI A delegation of Congress MLAs on Tuesday met Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya seeking a judicial probe into the lathicharge on farmers and requesting him not to give his nod to the land acquisition Bill passed by the state Assembly recently The state police had lathicharged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a highway while heading towards Karnal in Haryana to protest against a BJP meeting on August 28 The state Assembly had in its monsoon session passed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Amendment Bill 2021 which has been dubbed as anti-farmer by the Congress The Congress delegation led by the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda also submitted a video of an official in which he is seen telling police to break farmers heads according to a statement Submitting a memorandum Hooda reiterated his demand for a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the High Court or a retired judge into the lathicharge incident in which around 10 farmers were injured Dubbing the land acquisition Bill as anti-farmer the Congress delegation urged the Governor not to give his approval to it and send it back to the Haryana Assembly for reconsideration Hooda had earlier said the Haryana government has delivered another blow to the rights of farmers through the Bill with the Congress demanding that it be either withdrawn or referred to a select committee This Bill is anti-farmer anti-poor and undemocratic The Bill was passed hurriedly without a detailed discussion in the House Hooda told the Governor Hooda said the new Bill will hurt interests of farmers who are already agitating against Centres agriculture laws for the past nine months He claimed that provisions safeguarding interests of farmers have been taken away All provisions of the old Land Acquisition Act such as the consent of farmers the procedure for prior notice and giving residential plots with compensation in lieu of land have been done away in the new Bill Hooda said Not only this under the old law the consent of 75 per cent of the landholders was required for the government authority within the public private partnership and according to Section 10 of the Act fertile land could not be acquired This has been done away in the new law he said Earlier talking to reporters here before meeting the Governor the former chief minister commenting on the completion of the 2500 days of the BJP-led government claiming Both terms of the BJP government have been full of failures Then what is the government celebrating Is the government celebrating the fact that it has made Haryana number one in unemployment crime drugs scams farmer protests and pollution he asked Is the government celebrating the fact that it got the farmers beaten up with sticks Is it being celebrated that the farmer is sitting on the streets today Is it celebrating the fact that today the state has got a debt of Rs 25 lakh crore he asked PTI SUN VSD RDK RDK