After settling tussle in Punjab, Sonia heads to Shimla
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Sep, 2021 11:02 AM
Shimla, Sep 20 (IANS) Just hours after settling the political tussle in its ruled state Punjab, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi is in a holiday mood.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Sonia Gandhi is expected to stay here for two-three days and there is no engagement to meet any party functionary during the stay, an official here told IANS.
Priyanka's five-room cottage -- with wooden frames and shingled exteriors and a sloping tiled roof -- is furnished with interiors at a height of more than 8,000 feet in Charabra, some 15 km uphill from here.
Priyanka along with her children and mother regularly visit the cottage, just close to Wildflower Hall, on a four-bigha plus agricultural plot that was purchased in 2007.
The farmers union leaders had earlier pointed out that Punjab had failed to hike sugarcane SAP in proportion to Haryana over this period, causing fiscal losses to them.
The Punjab Congress leaders who have distanced themselves from the so-called festering revolt in the party are: Kuldeep Vaid, Dalvir Singh Goldie, Santokh Singh, Angad Singh, Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli, all MLAs, and Bhalaipur Ajit Singh Mofar, a former MLA.
Gurbachan Singh (55) was a relieved man after he welcomed his three sons at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here. They were among the 78 Afghan- Indians who were evacuated from Kabul to Tajikistan on Monday and to Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters along with former Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram, Gandhi said: "The Prime Minister and the BJP said that the Congress had done nothing in last 70 years. There is a list here of all the assets that the Congress has helped build using the public money.
Accordingly, a special Air India flight from Kabul landed at the IGi airport here on Tuesday carrying 44 Afghan Sikhs, who brought three copies of Guru Granth Sahib with them.
Four dummy AK-47 rifles, 4 dummy pistols, combat uniforms and a Maruti car were recovered from the gang. Gold worth Rs 20 lakh and cash to the tune of Rs 3 lakh were also recovered from their possession.
