Chandigarh, Feb 26: As the buzz over Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s entry into Rajya Sabha through nomination intensified after the party on Wednesday announced that it would field its MP Sanjeev Arora in the Ludhiana (West) Assembly bypoll, Opposition parties in Punjab trained guns on the party.

They said, “Kejriwal wants to control the state by becoming the undercover Chief Minister.”

“Once again, Punjab has been made to surrender before Delhi,” they added.

However, AAP leaders denied Kejriwal was opting for the Rajya Sabha route.

Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira claimed that Kejriwal would replace Arora in the Upper House.

“If Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora is nominated as AAP candidate for the Ludhiana (West) bypoll, I am sure Arvind Kejriwal will take his Rajya Sabha membership!” Khaira said in a post on X.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa believed that work had started as per the plan made by Kejriwal.

“If Kejriwal becomes a Rajya Sabha member, he will control Punjab by becoming the undercover Chief Minister. The face will be of Bhagwant Mann, but the control will be of Kejriwal,” he said.

After this, he wrote on X, the people of Delhi “will create such a situation that Bhagwant Mann sahib will be removed on some pretext and Arvind Kejriwal himself will become the Chief Minister.”

Joining the issue, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia said power hungry Kejriwal was seeking a Rajya Sabha nomination and this was the reason why the party had forced its sitting MP Sanjiv Arora to vacate a Rajya Sabha seat for him.

In a statement here, former minister Majithia said the AAP’s game plan was to use the government’s might to get Arora elected to the Vidhan Sabha so that a Rajya Sabha seat is vacated in the state.

“Kejriwal wants to get twin benefits including a government bungalow in his name in the national Capital as well as the perks and power of an MP,” he said.

The Akali Dal leader said it was most shameful to see that during the last three years Bhagwant Mann as Chief Minister had completely surrendered at the feet of the AAP high command in Delhi.

He said earlier the treasury of Punjab was looted for preaching the AAP’s failed Kejriwal model throughout the country and now he was seeking a nomination to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

Saying this bye-election is to prepare cadres for the future polls, AAP’s Punjab spokesperson Neel Garg, dubbed the claims of the Opposition as rumours regarding either party supremo Kejriwal or Sisodia replacing Arora in the Rajya Sabha.

“The BJP rumour mills are working overtime. As of now, the election for Ludhiana (West) has not even been announced. Arora has been chosen as the party candidate because of his popularity in Ludhiana. He has not even resigned from the Rajya Sabha membership. He can’t contest the bye-election without resigning,” Garg told the media here.

Justifying the party’s decision, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Sandhwan said a party can nominate anyone to the Rajya Sabha from anywhere.

“It’s their right. What is the illegality in this? Even Manmohan Singh went to the Rajya Sabha from another state. The party will decide who will be fielded and anyone they field I will welcome it,” Sandhwan said.

The Ludhiana (West) seat fell vacant with the demise of Gurpreet Gogi Bassi, 58, who died after sustaining a gunshot wound in his head at his house last month.

The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the election schedule for the seat.

AAP’s legislator Gogi joined the AAP in 2022 and defeated two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu during the 2022 Assembly elections.

Responding to the nomination, candidate Arora wrote on X, “Humbled and grateful to the leadership @AamAadmiParty for reposing faith in me to contest the Ludhiana West bye-elections. As someone deeply connected to my hometown, I look forward to serving my people with dedication and sincerity.”

The seven Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab are Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, educationist Ashok Mittal, environmentalist-cum-religious leader Balbir Singh Seechewal, entrepreneur Vikramjit Singh Sahney, besides Sanjeev Arora.

Kejriwal lost the New Delhi seat to BJP’s Parvesh Verma in the just-concluded Assembly elections.

Hyderabad, Feb 26: The operation to rescue eight persons trapped in the partially-collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district made some progress on the fifth day on Wednesday as the rescue workers managed to reach the end of the 14-km long tunnel.

A team of rescue workers from different agencies finally succeeded in crossing the last 40-meter stretch and returned but there was no word about the fate of the eight persons.

Officials said the team saw the entire stretch filled with slush and debris. They would now decide how to go about the final phase of the operation.

Earlier, tunnel experts from the Border Security Force (BSF) were roped in as part of the efforts to reach the head portion of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM).

With slush impeding the further movement of the rescue teams, experts from various agencies have reportedly concluded that removing slush is the only way to complete the mission.

At a review meeting with Telangana ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, top officials of the agencies involved in the rescue mission informed that efforts were underway to remove the slush to reach the last 40 metres.

With this stretch filled with mud and debris and water seepage continuing, rescue workers had not made any headway for more than 24 hours.

A team of rat miners also went inside the tunnel and assessed the situation. Their representative told the media that the TBM was not seen and feared that it could be buried under the mud.

Rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Army, the Navy and other agencies have not been able to advance further due to 7-9 metre high mud while the continuous seepage of water has made the entire operation risky for the rescue workers.

On a request from Telangana, the National Disaster Management Authority has requested the National Remote Sensing Centre and Geological Survey of India to conduct surface and sub-surface assessment of the incident site. This assessment is needed for the safety of the teams carrying out rescue operations.

Roping in experts from various agencies across the country and deployment of advanced equipment have not helped in what is believed to be the most difficult tunnel rescue operation in India.

Irrigation Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy on Wednesday held a meeting with officials of the various agencies involved in the rescue operation to assess the situation and discuss future course of action.

The ministers were informed that unless slush is removed and dewatering is done, rescue teams can’t make headway to reach the exact spot of the accident where the two engineers, two technical staff and four workers are trapped.

The accident occurred 14 km inside the tunnel. While the rescue teams had already reached 13.5 km, they could not advance further for the last two days due to mud, the debris of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) and the seepage of water. The divers of the Navy’s special forces unit Marcos were unable to wade through the slush.

Rescue workers say more soil is falling from fresh cavities at the exact spot of the tunnel collapse, adding to mud. As the slush is more than 70 per cent, the Navy divers were unable to go through it.

With more than 100 hours after the accident, the chances of survival of the trapped men are stated to be remote.

The Border Road Organisation will also be joining the rescue operation on Wednesday. The operation involves the Army, the Navy, the SDRF, the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation, the Singareni Collieries Company Limited, L&T, and HYDRAA.

Disaster Management Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar continues to supervise the rescue operation with other top officials.

The tail unit of TBM was found 50 metres before the end of the 14 km long tunnel. The head portion of the tunnel has a safe container for workers to take shelter in emergency situations. It was not known if the trapped men could enter the container when the roof collapsed and seepage of water became intensive.

Meanwhile, Jaypee Group founder Jaiprakash Gaur visited the tunnel on Wednesday and said they were making their best efforts to rescue to trapped men. Jaypee is the contracting firm for the SLBC project.

Gaur said after completing the rescue operation, the company would resume the work to execute the project. He told media persons that they have encountered such incidents during tunnel works. He said this was the sixth or seventh accident in his life.

Chandigarh, Feb 26: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday raised the issue of losses being suffered by Punjab’s industry and trade due to the closure of the Haryana-Punjab border highway.

The party said the BJP-led government at the Centre not only “wants to destroy farmers but is also trying to ruin the state’s trade”.

Party spokesperson Neel Garg told the media here that Punjab’s traders and businessmen are facing massive economic losses due to the border closure.

“Some of their representatives even met Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and requested the reopening of the highway,” Garg said, adding that this situation has arisen because Punjab’s farmers have been continuously sitting on the border for the past year, but the BJP government at the Centre is not listening to their demands at all.

“The BJP wants Punjabis to turn against each other so that the movement weakens and ends on its own,” he said.

Garg appealed to all farmer unions and political parties to find a solution to this issue collectively and plan the movement in a way that remains impactful while minimizing harm to traders and businessmen.

“If Punjab’s industry suffers, many people will become unemployed, and the government’s revenue will be severely affected as a significant amount of tax comes from the industry, which funds the state’s development and public welfare. It is our understanding that if the industry does not survive, Punjab will not survive. Therefore, we must find a way to protect both Punjab’s agriculture and trade,” he said.

The spokesperson urged the Haryana government to remove the barricading from the highway and ensure the free movement of vehicles related to industry and trade.

He also appealed to the Central government to resolve the farmers’ demands at the earliest, adding Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised a legal guarantee for MSP (minimum support price) when the farm laws were repealed and should now fulfil that promise. He appreciated the Punjab government’s decision to reject the draft of the Agriculture Marketing Policy proposed by the Central government in the Punjab Assembly.