Punjab govt relieves Gill; stage set for NRI Sabha elections?

Monday, 09/03/2015

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=126338&boxid=58550&uid=&dat=2015-03-09

Jalandhar : With the relieving of NRI Sabha Punjab president, the stage was set for the next NRI Sabha elections, which, if conducted will be held before this year end.

The Punjab government on Saturday relieved NRI Sabha president Jasvir Singh Gill from this post and named Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner R Venkatratnam as the president and the chairman of the sabha. Jasvir Gill’s two- year term had concluded on January 27, after which the state government had kept the decision on hold.

Now, it was expected that the state government will soon begin the process of NRI Sabha elections, as the NRI Affairs Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar had mentioned in the official orders that the Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner shall conduct the polls at the earliest.

“While the former NRI Sabha president Paramjit Singh Naurangpur has already started garnering support from NRIs, another contender previous NRI Sabha chief Kamaljit Singh Hayer was also in the picture. On the other hand, outgoing NRI Sabha president Jasvir Singh Gill can also try his luck again.

Kamaljit Singh said that he was yet to hold a meeting with the NRIs about contesting the elections. “We will soon hold a meeting in this regard and take a decision. It was yet to be decided that whether I will contest this time or recommend somebody’s name”, he said, adding that this was not the right time for conducting the elections as NRI turn out would be minimal.

On the other hand Jasvir Singh Gill also said that he would also conduct a meeting with the NRIs to plan about re-contesting the elections. “During these two years, I developed a good liaison with many NRIs and my next move would be in consultation with them”, he said, adding that there were some major hiccups like the executive committee of the NRI Sabha was never sanctioned by the chairman, an IAS officer Anurag Verma.

Meanwhile, Paramjit Singh Naurangpur had already begun activities to garner support from the NRIs. Though Naurangpur was not available for comment but on January 27, he had honoured as many as 10 NRIs from different countries for their contribution to their home towns back home.

Naurangpur accompanied by SAD District president Gurcharan Singh Channi and other NRIs had denied that the honour ceremony had nothing to do with the likely NRI Sabha elections but his opponents termed it as a move to project his sway for the key post.

Sources maintained that the election process would formally require three months time. “Even if the elections were announced in March, the polls would be held in the month of May or June, which was not the time for the NRIs to come home. It was expected that either the NRI elections would be delayed or it would be held with less NRI turn out only”, the sources added.