New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Ahead of the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls, former DGP Sarbdeep Singh Virk, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sarabjit Singh Makkar, and other prominent leaders on Friday joined the BJP.
Virk, Makkar and others like Punjab Cooperative Bank's former Chairman Avtar Singh Zira, industrialist Harcharan Singh Ranauta joined the saffron party here in presence of Union Minister and BJP Punjab election in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Union Minister Som Prakash was also present.
Welcoming the leaders in the party, Shekhawat said that the BJP will be strengthened in Punjab. "They have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and they will strengthen the organisation in the state. BJP is moving ahead in Punjab and will create a new history," he said, noting all the new joinees are prominent names in their respective fields.
Makkar said: "I had said that the day Prime Minister Modi will take back the farm laws, I will join the BJP and today I have done the same."
He claimed that in coming days, more people will join the BJP.
On December 1, SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa had joined the BJP. Before joining the BJP in the evening, Sirsa resigned the post of president Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee. In August, five SAD leaders had joined the BJP.
Following a tipoff, the DRI sleuths swooped on the port on October 4 and detected the huge narcotics contraband, valued at Rs 125 crore, among boxes of a cooking oil container arriving from Iran and are now probing the possibility of a bigger drug smuggling racket with international ramifications for India and other countries.
A total of 27.6 per cent of the respondents are 'satisfied to some extent', while 6.1 per cent chose the 'can't say/don't know' category. In the 'very much satisfied' category, Uttar Pradesh tops the list at 40.3 per cent, followed by Uttarakhand at 34.8 per cent, Manipur at 33 per cent, Goa at 18.8 per cent and Punjab at 14.4 per cent.
The UK travel advisory had made 10-day quarantine mandatory for Indian travellers, who have received both doses of Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
The leaders have been demanding the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish Mishra in connection with the death of farmers during the violence. Sidhu threatened to go on hunger strike if action is not taken against the minister's son by Friday.
The ministry said that all due protocols and norms relating to Covid-19, as notified by the Union Health Ministry from time to time, shall be adhered to by the foreign tourists, the carriers bringing them to India and all other stakeholders at the landing stations.
Tamil Nadu farmers association Deputy Secretary, P.S. Masilamani, who had participated in the farmers' agitation in New Delhi, told IANS that the farmers of Cauvery delta are "disturbed and outraged by the mowing down of fellow farmers and we are conducting peaceful protest marches in solidarity with the farmers of Lakhimpur Kheri."
