Once you develop a taste for politics, the spicy tingling lasts you a lifetime. At times even in death defying moments. When Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin, he was rushed to a Washington hospital. Moments before being operated upon, and very much conscious of the hectic activity around him, he looked at the team of surgeons and asked, "Please assure me that you are all Republicans!" The Spice of Politics is the stuff that much of journalism is also made of. To be true, is there anything in life which does not have a dash of this spice?

Adjustments galore: IK Gujral's son, Badal's sidekick et al all found adjustable
March 16, 2007
Chandigarh: In the days of yore when people used to allege that a particular person has been selected only because he was to be "adjusted" somewhere, it meant...

All the Badals' men

Such distinctly supreme wisdom surrounds Punjab's Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal now that he couldn't find anyone who could be...

Panthic Move
Bluestar DC is Badal’s choice replacing man who blocked SYL
8 March, 2007
Political masters have changed, and the babu minions were also expected to be shuffled. Akali Dal president Prakash Singh Badal, whose...

The saffron is spilling!
February 28, 2007
Sometime in August 2004, an over-enthusiastic group calling itself Greene Dragon took out a cycle rally...

All The Pardhan Ji’s Men
February 28, 2007
Poor old dead Gurcharan Singh Tohra! All his life the man was known as Pardhan ji, even when he was defeated by such political pygmies as...

Oye tu bahar nikal…
October 17, 2006
North western raiders knock at our borders no more. Ahmed Shah Abdali's offspring no more threaten to take away our wealth or women. But Punjabis, groomed in...
 

Here Can we have a DGP (Lathi Charge)? The Question Isn’t Academic

Two seemingly unconnected situations are fast emerging in Punjab. An ever increasing tendency by the repressed to assert their voice in ever shriller ways; and the acute crisis faced by the research scholars in Punjab...

Expert turns tables on Punjab loan issue, says Centre must pay
July 25, 2005
A retired state civil service officer has an idea to resolve one of Punjab's most convoluted financial problem – the debt incurred during terrorism years...

Govt rushes to prevent disqualification of three Chief Parl Secs
October 26, 2004
Badly caught on the wrong side of the law in appointing Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, and facing a serious legal challenge in this regard, Punjab Government is moving fast to cover its flanks and...

Capt changes tune
July 28, 2004
For the first time since the passage of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has given an indication that his...

‘Presidential Reference is good news’
July 23, 2004
Officially the Punjab Government isn't saying much about the Centre's move to make a Presidential Reference to the Supreme Court, effectively lobbing the SYL row back into the judiciary’s court.

State suggested Presidential Reference
July 20, 2004
If Presidential Reference is the Centre's magic wand to resolve the contentious construction and waters issue, then the Punjab Government could possibly get...

Capt finds solace in Narmada Tribunal’s report
July 16, 2004
Out to strengthen Punjab's case on the river waters sharing, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh seems to be either studying a lot of case law or has his lawyers plying him with examples which he can quote liberally...

Capt plays to the gallery, works the back-channels
July 16, 2004
“Your beleaguered Chief Minister is back," Amarinder Singh announced, almost gleefully, as he faced the Punjab media for the first time since his move...

Experts say Punjab Act dilutes riparian concept 
July 15, 2004
Ironically for Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, projected across the nation as the villain of the piece but as the toast of his own state, several staunch...

How CM's Team Legal found an enabling loophole 
July 14, 2004
Punjab's legal team poring over 'Operation Termination' to knock out the premise of the Supreme Court judgement requiring Punjab to hand over the...

SYL: Centre's eyes were wide shut
July 14, 2004
"Was the Prime Minster sleeping?" BJP's Sushma Swaraj thundered in Rajya Sabha on July 13, while India's federal lawmakers, the MPs in Lok Sabha and...

My days numbered, said CM 
July 13, 2004
Pressure build-up was not just expected it, was auto-built into Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's decision to bring before the Assembly the Bill to terminate Ravi-Beas water sharing agreements. But...

Govt mulled tweaking 131-yr-old Act for SYL 
July 8, 2004
Even as Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today discussed the fallout of the Supreme Court judgement on the SYL canal construction with Union Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi...

CM to meet Sorabjee today 
July 8, 2004
Punjab Government is going all out to bring a bill before the Assembly to escape the SYL canal handover to a Central government agency, and Chief...

Govt plans legislation to escape SYL
July 7, 2004
In a far-reaching development, the Punjab government has decided to bring a Bill in the Assembly to counter the awkward obligation of handing over the...

Amarinder demanded in '87 what Akalis demand now: Rejection of all past pacts
June 14, 2004
Notwithstanding the new-found reconciliation approach on the SYL issue, Akalis and Congress are poles apart on the strategy, and as Parkash Singh Badal leads the campaign for rejection...

Punjab annuls all Ravi-Beas pacts; Assembly passes Bill unanimously; Nation shocked
June 12 2004
The Punjab Assembly did it today. On June 12, 2004, the state made history, trashing all existing pacts about Ravi-Beas waters sharing and swimming out of the...

Bringing the Raj back to Panchayati Raj
June 8, 2004
Billed as a conclave to benefit elected representatives who act as the fulcrum of panchayati raj system, a state government's workshop on 'Rural Decentralisation in Punjab' made little sense to most...

Mr Fix-it Hanspal gets in a fix as sacked men swoop down upon his office
January 6, 2004
Having acted once as Mr Fix-it for Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Punjab Congress president H S Hanspal today found himself in a fix as the sacked...

Kakoo-Tikkoo di Congress Gaddi Chugs into 2004
January 1, 2004
Much like Hamara Bajaj, the Punjab Congress is fast becoming not just Chunnu Munnu de papa di gaddi, what with the kakas doing the back-seat driving...

Bitter Amarinder-Badal polity leads to competitive rediscovery of Longowal
August 20, 2003
Real politics mothers many strange proclivities, and 17 years after his brutal assassination, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal's memory turned out to be still potent enough to juxtapose bitterly-opposed political streams...

Badal gives benign face to hegemony, but Amarinder may not wince
July 16, 2003
If hegemony has a benign face, it was on display at the Akali Dal's unity conclave today where party president Parkash Singh Badal, currently reeling under...

Akalis crowds beg for arrest, Govt injects shrewdness into polity
November 27, 2002
Agitational politics turned into a game of wits on Wednesday as thousands of Akali Dal workers led by Parkash Singh Badal swarmed district administration complexes across Punjab violating prohibitory orders...

Court says MLA Dimpa is absconding, Govt decides to withdraw case
September 10, 2002
Rich and powerful, but can't get off the hook in a case of house trespass, causing grievous hurt, rioting with deadly weapons? Here's advice: Avoid the courts...

"Faida Hoga?" He asked me. I knew the answer. But didn't tell him
August 29, 2002
The law is taking a new course of conviction-clemency-release in Haryana as epitomised by release of several hardcore criminals in the state after securing a gubernatorial nod  under Article 161 of the...

Saade Parivar Di Khaas Gal Hai Chautala Sahib Naal Getting away with murder
August 25, 2002
Her son, who was serving a life sentence in Sirsa jail for killing his wife, is home these days. Haryana governor was kind enough to grant his mercy plea under Article 161 of the Constitution, as Sarvjit Singh...

For Akalis, Bhikhiwind is Leningrad
June 11, 2002
"We will turn Bhikhiwind into Leningrad!" Whenever Akalis desperately needed a slogan to charge up their cadres, they used to fall back on the panthic idiom, stirring up the 'panth in danger' line or...

Is this Cricket? BJP MLA Plays Key Role in fracas at Border
March 5, 2001
If a clash between India and Pakistan, even if on a cricket pitch, attracts astronomical numbers of eyeballs, how can a local politico in a mofussil-sized town on the...

The Kurrimaar Row Puppy love dead, may also claim a political career
October 14, 2000
My dear Kamal, sweet sweet kiss full of great love on your sweet lips. Kamal I love you and cannot live without you…I love my Tinku which is...

Volcker's Sleuthing Damages Amarinder's Leeway Channel Called Brother-in-law

Probing the slush flow in international oil-for-food kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, a sleuthing Volcker never knew who is Amarinder Singh. For the record...