NRI Khangura won Qila Raipur
seat and break the record of 45 years
Chandigarh, Feb. 27, 2007
Sampuran Singh
To the surprise of no one, turnout today is true
and it is approved that only NRIs can change the system if they
continue. Qila
Raipur was always belong to Akali Dal. No Congress
candidate ever won this seat.
In this constituency, people are very educated and
this time they felt that only NRI can bring some changes and voted
to Oxford-educated hotelier Jasbir Singh Khangura as Congress candidate.Read
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Mr. Khangura's mother, Gurdial Kaur, as Congress candidate
lost to Mr. Garcha, Akali Dal in 2002. As such, winning has become
a prestige issue for the (till recently) NRI as Congress candidate.
"We have to teach these criminals a lesson," he says with
a heavy accent.
The Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD)-BJP alliance has got
67 seats while Congress has got 44 seats. The SAD and BJP break
up is 48 and 19. Five independents have won and no other party including
BSP could open its account in the 116 seats of Punjab Vidhan Sabha
in results declared on Tuesday. Polling in Beas segment will be
held on March 11.
Amarinder Singh almost demolished the SAD in Mansa, Bathinda, Moga,
Faridkot, Barnala, Sangrur and Patiala districts, but his party
suffered big defeats in the majha and doaba regions, besides Ferozepore
and the Ludhiana-Ropar belt. Failure of the Manmohan Singh Government
to control the rising prices of foodgrains hit Amarinder Singh hard
in Assembly elections. Even on giving relief to farmers from debt,
the Union government kept Amarinder Singh waiting for a long time.
What led to the Congress defeat was Capt Amarinder Singh's concentration
on Jat Sikh politics. This pushed him away from the traditional
vote bank of the Congress - Hindus in urban areas. Amarinder Singh
had live with this image till today, the day he lost the game of
power to the SAD-BJP combine.
NRI Surjit Rakhra from USA, Akai
Dal Party candidate, lost from constituency of
Samana
Badal clearly make history by becoming the Chief Minister of the
state for the fourth time in the past 60 years.
NRIs like to
teach Punjab Politicians- the real meaning of democracy
Chandigarh, Feb. 10, 2007
Sampuran Singh
More than 50,000 NRIs have come to Punjab for the
election and more than one billion rupees of campaign funds have
come from overseas. For the past 20 years, Punjabi NRIs are trying
to invest money in industry and technology but politicians always
made a joke of it. NRIs may be very rich in USA, Canada and UK but
THEIR heart lies in Punjab.
Manjit Singh from USA said, "We frequently come
back to Punjab, we are strongly and emotionally bonded with Punjab.
It is important for all the NRIs to participate in elections. Also
if we want to invest in Punjab we must participate in Election process."
Punjabi NRIs are so powerful in USA, Canada, UK and
they have close tie with Punjab through internet, TV and radio talk
shows. One non-profit organization survey with more than 100 NRIs
who are involved with Punjab politics- most of them response:
- We love punjab's land, we love it, we love it. Technology is
so great, we got every day live news from Punjab. We always talk
about Punjab, India's politics.
- We like to see Punjab paradise and we are very upset to see
downward after blue star of 1984
- Now we are able to change the corrupted system and want to see
our brothers and sisters live under democratic system.
- Most of the NRIs are very upset from politician's false promises
and their wealth. Most of the NRIs argue that how come politicians
have had 1 crore property 10 or 15 years ago and now 200, 2000
or 3000 crores
For the first time, NRIs are making the presence felt in elections
and they are doing it because of India’s rising status, because
it has become more respectable and more worthwhile.
NRI Jasbir Singh Khangura,
from UK, Congress Party candidate, constituency
of Qila Raipur
It is estimated that more than 250 NRIs from Britain, Canada and
America who have returned to support the Khangura campaign . Mr
Khangura hopes to rid his birthplace of the corruption that has
left much of it without a functioning sewerage system, or reliable
electricity and water supplies. He is standing as the Congress Party
candidate for his native constituency of Qila Raipur, which has
a population of 275,000, mainly farmers. Congress has never won
in Qila Raipur, which has been held for the past ten years by Jag-dish
Garcha, of the Shiromani Akali Dal party.
Mr. Khangura said, "I was three years old when I went to London.
Now I am 43 and I think it is the right time to return to the mother
land and participate in the development of state and the country,"
NRIs have poured billions dollars of investment into India since
its market reforms began to deliver Chinese-style growth. Now they
are demanding a greater say in government to protect their investments
and to clean up a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy.....Read
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NRI Surjit Rakhra from
USA Camping in Samana
NRI Surjit Singh Rakhra along with his billionaire
brother Darshan Singh Dhaliwal is camping door to door in the Samana
constituency. Darshan Singh Dhaliwal goes around Patiala and Samana’s
streets and asking for votes in his brother’s name.
Surjit said, more than 3,000 NRIs from the USA, Canada,
Australia and the UK are camping here and begging votes for me door
to door. We want to clean corruption. Our entire campaign is based
on two things: the Punjabi brotherhood and the Akali Panthic agenda,
whose basic hallmark is personalised meetings.
Darshan Singh Dhaliwal says, democracy is a great
leveller, so I am here asking for votes despite my status. For me,
it's a great opportunity to feel rooted to my birthplace. I may
have become rich, but I am after all the son of this very soil.
Here the campaigning is more on false promises. I am just making
comparisons, between Surjit and his opponent Brahm.
Brahm Mohindra, who is contesting elections from prestigious
Samana assembly constituency said, "Rakhra was acting like
a travel agent in this area and not a politician. Referring a news
report published in the section of media he criticized the statement
of his brother Darshan Sigh Dhaliwal, a NRI, who said in is interview
that Politics in India was a dirty game and wanted to take his brother
Surjit Singh Rakhra back to USA."
His billionaire brother Darshan Singh Dhaliwal ....Read
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