Senate polls: PU senators meet MP Tewari, speaker from Punjab, seek support

Though the term of the Panjab University (PU) senate ends on October 31, some senators participating in the protest met Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari and Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Sunday to seek support.

The delegation calling itself “PU Bachao Morcha” alleged that the delay was influenced by the central government and posed a threat to the university’s autonomy. Tewari promised to inform Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also PU chancellor, about the matter.

Among the senators who met him were DPS Randhawa, who helped Tewari in his own Lok Sabha campaign, and other senators like Inderpal Singh Sidhu, Simar Dhillon and Shaminder Sandhu.

The morcha students met Sandhwan, who also assured them of his support. Various student organizations such as Sath, Panjab University Students’ Union, Panjab University Students’ Organization and student wings of political parties have also expressed their support and are likely to continue their protest on Monday.

The protesters have also reached out to other prominent political leaders, but the BJP leaders are still missing from this set.

On Monday, all protesters will be keeping an eye on what is happening in the Punjab and Haryana High Court as the PU has to file its reply in this regard. One of the petitioners, Jagwant Singh, stated that he has filed a request to extend the term of office of this body by another year, alleging that the term of the senate has been reduced from four to three years in 2021, which is contrary to Art. Panjab University Act. The senator said he would decide on further proceedings based on the outcome of the court hearing on Monday.