DERA BABA NANAK/BATALA: Even as there is no clarity on the spot where corridor to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur (Pakistan) will be aligned on the Indian side, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu will lay the virtual foundation stone at Mann village near Dera Baba Nanak on Monday.
HT PHOTO■ Preparations underway at the venue of the foundation stonelaying ceremony at Mann village in Dera Baba Nanak on Sunday.The ceremony will also be attended by Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Union ministers, Punjab ministers, SGPC office-bearers and Akali Dal leaders. Public works department minister Vijay Inder Singla, jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar will also attend the ceremony.
As per the invitations issued by ministry of road transport and highways and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla, Union minister of state (independent charge) for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, former CM Parkash Singh Badal and SAD president Sukhbir Badal will also be present.
Naidu will arrive at Shri Guru Ramdas Jee international Airport, Amritsar, by 10.25am, from where he take a chopper to Dera Baba Nanak and return to Amritsar by 12.45pm.
On his facebook page, Sukhbir announced that he, along with the party leadership, will take part in ardas at Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak at 8am on Monday, from where he will leave for the venue of ceremony on foot. CONFUSION OVER MONDAY’S EVENT
There was confusion over events lined up for Monday. Apart from the main stone-laying ceremony being organised by the Centre at Kahlanwali village, there were talks of a separate function being organised by the state government at Mann village.
NHAI was asked by the Centre to make the arrangements for the function. Even the funds and invitation cards were issued by the agency. The agency officials passed on the instructions to the district administration, but there
was no trace of preparations at Kahlanwali village. Earlier, a blame game was going on between the NHAI officials and district administration.
NHAI technical director Ashish Sharma was seen blaming deputy commissioner Vipul Ujwal for the lax approach to make arrangements for the event. Minister Randhawa said there was no clarity on the alignment yet. “It’s at the initial stage. The representatives of both the governments will work on a blueprint,” he said.
‘CLEAR ROAD PROJECTS IN HISTORIC TOWNS’
CM Amarinder Singh on Sunday sought the personal intervention of Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari for expeditious clearance of road projects in the historic towns of Sultanpur Lodhi, Batala and Dera Baba Nanak. The towns are associated with the life of Guru Nanak. In a letter to Gadkari, the CM said he was grateful to the Centre for acceding to the request of his government related to the projects and announcements in this regard.
As Capt spurns Pak invite, Cong rallies behind Sidhu
STATE CONGRESS CHIEF SAYS SIDHU SEIZED THE MOMENT AFTER CHANGE OF REGIME IN PAK AND HELPED MAKE KARTARPUR CORRIDOR DREAM A REALITY
From page 01 CHANDIGARH: Even as Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday declined Pakistan’s invite to attend the stone-laying ceremony for the Kartarpur corridor on the other side of the border on November 28, the state Congress has rallied behind local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who accepted Pakistan’s request with “with unalloyed joy”.
“The corridor is a tribute to the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak, and his teaching of universal brotherhood. The prayers of Sikhs all over the world have fructified. Sidhu seized the moment after change of regime in Pakistan and helped make this dream a reality,” Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar said.
Declining the invitation, Amarinder has cited terrorist attacks in Punjab and killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistani armed forces, as the reasons.
Though Amarinder has tried to take a high ground on issues of national security and terrorism, the real reason lies in the precedence Islamabad accorded to Sidhu in its invitee list. In Amarinder’s calculation, his minister Sidhu, as Imran’s friend, would garner much of the limelight in Pakistan.
Pak foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi had invited Sidhu on Friday, describing him as a steadfast partner in this endeavour. On Saturday evening, Qureshi tweeted an invite to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Amarinder. Sushma too has declined the invite and deputed two Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Puri to represent her.
Amarinder has taken refuge under the anti-Pakistan rant also as Indian delegation comprising Harsimrat would have overshadowed him, much to his discomfiture.
Sidhu on Sunday wrote back to Qureshi accepting the invitation saying the corridor will break barriers of history and open borders of hearts and mind and he has sent his request to attend it to the external affairs ministry.
“The prayers of 12 crore Sikhs and Sindhis have been answered. No one should play politics over the corridor. I am going as an Indian, on invite of a friend,” he said, refusing to comment on Amarinder’s stand saying that is the CM’s personal decision.
BJP RESURRECTS BELEAGUERED BADALS The decision of the BJP-led government at the Centre to allow the corridor has also resurrected its beleaguered ally the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is facing heat over sacrilege and police firing incidents of 2015.
The renewed bonhomie was evident when PM Narendra Modi also took part in Gurpurb function at SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat’s residence on Friday after announcing the opening of the corridor.
The allies have also tried to steal Sidhu’s thunder who had made the first announcement on Pakistan’s keenness to open the corridor after his visit to Imran’s swearing-in stirred a controversy over his hug to Pak army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sidhu is one of the star campaigners of the Congress against the BJP in the five poll-bound states and a known Badal-baiter.