Students brought in to fill empty chairs at deputy CM show

JALANDHAR: Punjab's ruling SAD-BJP government seems to have lost its footing in the party itself after Sarabit Singh Makkar got a ticket from the Jalandhar Cantonment Assembly constituency. In a show of protest after Makkar got a ticket, all senior SAD leaders from Jalandhar Cantonment and Jalandhar district boycotted Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's rally in the region. Badal, who was to lay the foundation of the ITI at Sofi Pind, was received by a damp crowd with more than 60 per cent chairs remaining empty. Students from a nearby school and college were later brought in by the rally organiser to the venue just before the deputy CM arrived.