CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to file his nomination papers against SAD heavyweight, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, from Lambi on Wednesday with the Congress high command clearing his name for the seat on Tuesday evening, while announcing tickets from six more seats and changing the nominees from four others. It’s official Amarinder will thus two fight assembly elections from two constituencies one his home town Patiala (Urban) from where his name was already declared and the second is Lambi.
While the party’s star campaigner, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu will fight from Amritsar East in place of his wife, who had earlier been shortlisted for ticket from the constituency, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu has been assigned the task of taking on Shiromani Akali Dal President and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal from his constituency of Jalalabad.
Sidhu’s associate and former hockey player Pargat Singh has been allotted the ticket from Jalandhar Cantt, with Jalandhar DCC Rural president Jagbir Singh Brar chosen to contest the Nakodar seat. For Sanaur, Harinder Pal Singh (Harry) Mann, former Punjab Information Commissioner, has been given the ticket. The seats for which the party has changed its nominees are Jagraon (ex-MLA Malkiat Singh Dakha in place of Geja Ram), Jalandhar North (Bawa Henry, son of former Punjab minister Avtar Henry instead of Rajkumar Gupta) and Bholath (Ranjit Singh Rana instead of Guwinder Singh Atwal). The party has also changed the candidate from Phillaur-SC, giving ticket now to Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary in place of his mother Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary.
Nominees for the pending seats of Amritsar South, Mansa and Ludhiana East will be announced by Tuesday. It may be recalled that Captain Amarinder had requested the party high command for permission to take Parkash Singh Badal head-on from Lambi in order to wipe out the top Akali leadership from the state’s political scene and free the people of Punjab from the vicious grip of the Badals.