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Senate polls: PU senators meet MP Tewari, Punjab speaker, seek support
Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari pledged that he would bring the matter to the notice of the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the chancellor of PU
While the Panjab University (PU) senate’s term is ending on October 31, some of the senators, who have been sitting on a protest, met with Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari and Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Sunday to gather support.
The delegation, which is calling itself “PU Bachao Morcha”, alleged that the delay is influenced by the central government and poses a threat to the university’s autonomy. Tewari pledged that he would bring the matter to the notice of the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the chancellor of PU.
Senators who met him include DPS Randhawa, who had helped Tewari with his own Lok Sabha campaign, and other senators like Inderpal Singh Sidhu, Simar Dhillon and Shaminder Sandhu.
Students from the morcha had met with Sandhwan, who also assured them of his support. Various student organisations like Sath, Panjab University Students Union, Students Organisation of Panjab University and the student wings of political parties have also expressed their support and are likely to continue their protest on Monday.
The protesters also reached out to other prominent political leaders, but leaders from the BJP remain missing from this mix.
On Monday, all protesters will be looking at what happens in the Punjab and Haryana high court as PU has to file a reply in the matter. One of the petitioners, Jagwant Singh, said he has filed a petition to get the term of the body extended by another year claiming that the term of the senate had been shortened from four years to three years in 2021 and this is in contravention to the Panjab University Act. A senator said they will decide on their next course of action based on the outcome in the court on Monday.
