Sukhbir rises to centre stage with dynasty tag in Punjab

The crowning of Sukhbir Singh Badal as deputy to his chief minister-father dominated Punjab's political arena in 2009 even as fissures developed in the coalition government over a host of issues, culminating in the SAD-BJP alliance's poor show in Lok Sabha polls.

Twenty-five years after Operation Blue Star, the army's storming of the Golden Temple in 1984 to flush out Sikh extremists, attempts were made to evoke its memories.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) that manages Sikh shrines brought out its annual calendar with a photograph of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, badly destroyed in the army attack.

Religious fraternity strained and unrest prevailed in the state as followers of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, a sect of Dalits, took to the streets over the death of its key leader Sant Ramanand in a shoot out in Vienna, Austria.

A caste clash over Gurudwara offerings in Vienna provoked a violent backlash in the state in May as three protesters were killed and 20 injured in police firing in Jalandhar.

Various Sikh organisations, including SGPC, remained at loggerheads with members of Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (HSGPC ad hoc) over a proposal to set up a separate body to manage shrines in that state.

Former chief minister Amarinder Singh was in the dock after the vigilance bureau filed a charge sheet against him and others in connection with Amritsar Improvement Trust land scandal.

The year also witnessed severe power and financial crisis with the state's debt burden estimated to rise to about Rs 60,000 crore by the end of this fiscal. Incidents of communal discord sprang up several times leading to violence.

The state's politics was dominated by the ascension of Sukhbir as heir apparent to Parkash Singh Badal. The SAD president, however, had to resign as deputy chief minister as he failed to get elected to the assembly within the stipulated six months after his nomination to the post in January. Later, he firmed up his position winning the Jalalabad by-poll.

Sukhbir's induction turned out to be a bone of contention between the alliance partners. Bickering within the ruling front was embarrassing for government over many issues. Bowing to BJP's demands, the government rolled back 12 per cent hike in power tariff.

The combine failed to put up a convincing performance in the Lok Sabha elections and lost eight of the 13 seats to opposition Congress. The BJP won only the Amritsar segment.

The May elections also saw a spirited "family versus family" campaign in Bathinda segment where Sukhbir's wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal drubbed Amarinder Singh's son Raninder by over one lakh votes.

The state came under attack from across the border as five rockets fired into Indian territory exploded in fields of border villages of Amritsar in September. There were also signs of revival of militancy in the border state, allegedly backed by Pakistan's ISI.

Forty six terrorists were arrested and nine terror modules busted during the period. The shootout at Ludhiana railway station involving an activist of Babbar Khalsa International in August was viewed as resurgence of terrorism. The police also linked the encounter death of one Rashtriya Sikh Sangat activist in Patiala and a Dera follower of Mansa to militancy.

Police arrested 46 suspected terrorists and busted nine militant modules of Khalistan Zindabad Force and Babbar Khalsa International among others. The year also witnessed the death of Cooperation minister Kanwaljit Singh, a four-time MLA, who was killed in a car accident in March.

Former chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar died after prolonged illness. The Congress leader led the state for 14 months filling up the vacancy created by the assassination of then chief minister Beant Singh.

On the industrial front, the government set aside the previous Congress government's decision to allot 1,000 acres of land at concessional rate to Reliance Industries Ltd for its 'farm to fork' project.

The state witnessed several suicides by debt-ridden farmers. Protests simmered over minimum support price of paddy and wheat, besides proposal to unbundle the electricity board. The state Cabinet, through an ordinance, amended the Punjab Police Act to facilitate appointment of a police officer from another state cadre as DGP.

PS Gill, a 1974 batch IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was appointed the police chief superseding several other senior officers.

In a case of tragic medical negligence, six new borns, were killed and another five suffered serious burns as a short-circuit sparked a blaze in incubators at government-run Rajindera Hospital at Patiala. Swine flu claimed seven lives even as several others tested positive for the viral disease.