PATIALA: With Punjab set to witness an intriguing electoral battle between the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress—the parties have fielded key leaders in the major constituencies. Former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) and Congress president Amarinder Singh is contesting against former Army chief General J J Singh (retd) from Patiala and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi.
While Badal senior had won four consecutive terms from Lambi, the constituency now reveals an undercurrent of dissent against the incumbent. It was the AAP which first upped the ante on the Lambi seat by fielding Delhi MLA Jarnail Singh, who hogged the limelight for throwing a shoe at then Union home minister P Chidambaram in 2009, to take on Badal senior.
A confident Amarinder says he would cook Badal’s goose on his home turf. “I am contesting from Lambi as I want to teach a lesson to those who have looted Punjab,” said Amarinder.
Lambi falls in the Malout subdivision of Muktsar district, part of the Bathinda parliamentary constituency represented in the Lok Sabha by Union minister Harsimrat Badal, the CM’s daughter-in-law. Badal village, where the CM hails from, is part of this constituency.
AAP convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal left no stones unturned as he held five rallies in the constituency last week. “He will do five more,” said Jarnail, brushing aside SAD and Congress’ attack on him for being an “outsider”. Jarnail added that his grandparents had also moved from Lahore during the partition. However, they chose to settle in Delhi, that is the only difference and it does not make me an outsider, he said.
Besides J J Singh, Amarinder has another serious opponent in Dr Balbir Singh from the AAP in Patiala. With splits in AAP, MP Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, who was suspended from the party, has fielded his own candidates. During the last three elections, Amarinder has consistently improved upon his victory margin. In 2012, it was about 40,000 votes. This was despite the fact that he visited the city only twice. Despite the number of contenders or how serious and challenging they may tend to be,
Amarinder remains on a sound footing in Patiala, his family borough.
In Lehragaga, another battle is raging between finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa of SAD, who is pitted against former CM and Congress veteran Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
During her campaign, Bhattal told the people that Parminder is an outsider. “Parminder betrayed Sunam. He needs to explain that what made him to run away (sic) from there and betray the people of the segment represented by him.”
Dhindsa, son of former Union minister and Akali stalwart Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, terms Bhattal as an outsider who did nothing for the constituency she has been representing for the last 25 years.