Kangana Regrets Tweet, MPLAD Funds & Sikh as J&K RS

On 27 Oct, the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Bathinda granted bail to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency in a defamation case over a derogatory tweet made by her during the Farmers’ Protest 1.0 (2020-21). Kangana had shared a photograph of Mahinder Kaur, an elderly woman farmer from Bahadurgarh Jandian village, comparing her with Bilkis Bano, the elderly woman who became a symbol of the Shaheen Bagh protests. Kangana had claimed such women were 'available for INR 100’ (USD 1.13) to join protests; the remark drew widespread criticism. Mahinder had filed a defamation complaint in January 2021. Kangana had sought exemption from the case through the Panjab and Haryana High Court and even the Supreme Court of India; both had rejected her requests. Mahinder's advocate Raghbir Singh Behniwal contested Kangana’s claim that she had retweeted by mistake and not targeted anyone in particular. Kangana regretted her tweet and sought to apologize to Mahinder. But Mahinder was not present in the court due to ill health. Mahinder's husband Labh Singh said Kangana has never apologized in the past. The next hearing is on 24 Nov. Meanwhile, on 28 Oct, Panjab BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha vice-president Paramjit Singh Kainth questioned the under-utilization of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds by the Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament, RS) members. Kainth said: 'Six out of seven Rajya Sabha MPs under the AAP govt led by chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann have spent less than 27% of their allocated funds between 2022–25, disappointing the people of Panjab.' The RS MPs spent only USD 3M out of a total of USD 11M. The shortfall is despite funds being distributed over three years. Concurrently, in Jammu and Kashmir, the ruling National Conference (NC) won three Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) seats and the BJP won one seat after voting on 24 Oct. The NC winners are Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, and a Sikh party treasurer Gurwinder Singh Oberoi (earlier coverage).