CHANDIGARH: With the Congress and Aam Adami Party (AAP) declaring candidates for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, the other major player Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to announce its candidate shortly. There are more than four names doing the rounds for the BJP-SAD alliance ticket which include film actress Poonam Dhillon, local prominent Sikh face Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, apart from former Punjab Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi and Union Minister Hardip Puri.
Chhina seems to be leading the race for the ticket though recently the reports suggests that Jagdish Kaur, a 1984 riots victim in Delhi had also been approached by the party for the candidature. The lobbying for the ticket has heaten up and the party might zero in on a local face as the citizens vouch for a local leader over a celebrity face.
The rash of ‘non-political’ candidates in the fray going by the candidate lists being considered by BJP so far actors, cricketers and celebrities- is perhaps unprecedented. Doubtless, political parties routinely place their bets on celebrities for their star appeal to win elections but this time around, they clearly looks hinting their preference for a local face from Amritsar.
Chhina who is considered close to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and even PM Narendra Modi had lost 2017 by polls of the Lok Sabha to Congress’s Gurjit Aujla due to the year-long anti-incumbency factor of the then SAD BJP alliance government in the state. He had claimed the ticket for a yet another chance to and thus has emerged as front runner for this candidature.
Chinna, who has been active in the BJP for the past several years, is a member of national BJP Manifesto panel- 2019.
Meanwhile, Hardip Puri has reportedly told the party high command that he was happy with the Rajya Sabha membership the tenure of which will last four more years. The newly Sikh leader Harinder Singh Khalsa, former AAP MP, had also visited Amritsar recently sparking speculations of his candidature but the caste affiliations and outsider’s tag is going contrary to him.