CHANDIGARH – Admitting for the first time that he is in talks for merging People’s Party of Punjab with the Congress after flirting recently with joining AAP, Manpreet Badal said that they will take a call soon. However, he ruled out that there is any plan to join the Congress during the Maghi Mela conference in Muktsar.
To discuss the merger with his party cadre, he had called a meeting of different district units. “Another meeting of remaining districts will take place in Muktsar,” he said. Once the central committee of the party takes a decision it will be taken up in the general body meeting of the party.
Talking to TNS at his residence here, Manpreet said that it will be unfair to deny the fact they are negotiating with the Congress on the merger. However, he refused to share the details saying that it will be too early to say something. “Once we will reach near the bridge, we will share the details,” he said.
“One thing I can say is that we parted ways with SAD on issues like VIP culture etc and we want Congress to accept that,” he said.
He said that at present the biggest challenge before Punjab was to get rid of the SAD and Badal family. “They are the biggest VIPs and have destroyed Punjab,” he said. However, when asked when his political mannerism was closer to AAP, why didn’t he prefer AAP. He said that certain leaders in AAP don’t want him to be there.
He also said that Punjab needs to move on from personality based politics.
hdev Singh Brar, Chief Agriculture Officer, and Jaswinder Singh Brar, Agriculture Officer of Moga, said that during this part of the rabi season, the farmers irrigate their fields. “Rain has increased soil moisture, which is required for normal development of the plant at this stage. As rain is the best source of natural nitrogen, it increases the nutrient uptake efficiency of the plants,” they said.
Chandigarh: According to the Chandigarh meteorological centre, almost half of the districts in the state, especially in the north-eastern part, got rain.
The districts included Mohali, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Ropar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Kapurthala, Amritsar etc.
In the district-wise breakup, Amritsar got 10.5 mm, Jalandhar 12 mm, Kapurthala 13 mm, Ropar 6 mm, Ludhiana 6 mm, Hoshiarpur 8 mm and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar got 22 mm rain.
In its forecast, the met centre said that that the weather would be clear in the coming days.
The rain has brought relief to the farmers in the state. According to agricultural experts, rain was needed at this point of time for the wheat crop.
“In the absence of rain, the yield would have been low. We were worried due to the absence of rain and high temperature,” said Dr Gurdial Singh, director agriculture, Punjab. He said that it was too hot for the wheat crop. A dip in temperature was required for a good harvest that this rain would bring about.
