NRIs demand representative in Indian Parliament at UK meet

Speaking at a reception hosted in honour of Gulchain Singh Charak, permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee and the in-charge of the Punjab, Chandigarh and Bihar Congress, at the Indian Gymkhana Club last evening, Kalhan said: "NRIs holding Indian passports must have their representative in Parliament and the Indian government must make a constitutional provision for it."

Kalhan said, "The IOC was instrumental in getting voting rights for NRIs holding Indian passports."

He regretted that no one was giving any importance to tapping NRIs' vote or the influence they could have back home.

Answering a query regarding the demand for NRI representation in the Indian Parliament, Charak said the matter needed a thorough study and he would take it up with the concerned authorities.

Addressing the gathering, Charak said a series of measures have been taken recently to strengthen the Congress organisation in Punjab and Bihar and expressed confidence that the Congress party would return to power with an absolute majority in Punjab in the Assembly elections expected next February.

"The atmosphere in Punjab is in favour of Congress and the party will come back to power with a good majority," he said.

Noting that Congress has "adopted" a policy of "zero tolerance" as far as corruption is concerned, Charak said, "The party has not pardoned any person facing corruption charges."

He said people in Punjab were "fed up of the Akali government because of its misrule, lawlessness and corruption".

The people are in favour of the Congress party "because they want a secular government and only Congress could provide it."

He said the Congress Party would organise a "parivartan yatra (movement for change)" from October 1 in all 170 Assembly constituencies in Punjab.

According to him, the BJP leadership was "involved in corruption" and many were facing court cases.

Leading Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma, Indian Overseas Congress Chairman Manjit Lit, IOC Councillor Sunil Chopra, IOC General Secretary Ajmer Dhillon and IOC Senior Vice-President and Councillor Satpal Parmar also spoke on the occasion.

Councillor Chopra said India has made rapid progress and "we are proud of it."

He wanted the Indian government to take effective steps to curb alleged corruption in the country.

"The government should also take steps to ensure that the common man's basic needs are met," he said.

Councillor Dhillon said Congress is the only party which could keep the country together.
Kalhan presented Charak with a shawl on the occasion.

Prominent among the attendees were leading NRI solicitor Hari Singh, well-known physician Dharmendra Tripathi and entrepreneur J S Malhotra.