CHANDIGARH: Congress is finding it difficult to choose a candidate for the Patiala (Urban) Assembly seat. Reason? Former CM Amarinder Singh has been the MLA from this seat for 20 years. The heavyweight could be a major thorn in the flesh for the state’s ruling party in the polls.
The Congress screening committee has sent a list of the remaining 31 candidates president Sonia Gandhi for her final nod.
Sources said that due to the differences between Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on certain names, the list could not be finalised at the screening committee’s meeting held on Saturday.
A subcommittee was formed to decide on the names and reach a decision.
The Patiala (Urban) seat has been represented by Amarinder since 2002. Four months ago, he left Congress and formed his own party Punjab Lok Congress. It has tied up with BJP and will contest in 37 seats in the election on February 20.
Amarinder has been saying that he will content from ‘his’ seat, and win hands down as people of the royal city is with him due to his royal roots.
Sources said the name of Vishnu Sharma, who was re-inducted in Congress last week by Sidhu, is doing the rounds as a probable candidate.
Also, there is demand from a section of local Congress leaders that Sidhu or his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu should fight from this seat.
The Congress is likely to announce its candidate for this seat in the next list, which is expected any day now.
Aam Aadmi Party has fielded turncoat Ajitpal Singh Kohli from this seat. He was earlier with Akali Dal.
The Congress on Monday refused to comment on the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) fielding Lakha Sidhana, an accused in the Republic Day violence at Red Fort last year, in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the real issue is what the government has done for the welfare of farmers and why Ajay Mishra 'Teni' continues to be the Union minister even though his son is the prime accused in the case of mowing down of farmers Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.
"I don't think the issue is about who is fielding whom. It is about what is this government doing for farmers. We are six days short of February 2022 when farmers' income was supposed to be doubled. The reality is that the average farmer in India is earning an average of Rs 27 per day. What is the government doing about it?" Shrinate told reporters.
"We are living in a regime where Ajay Mishra Teni continues to be the Union minister while his son is the main accused," she added.
She also cited Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik's recent claims against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the farmers' issues.
When Malik met Modi, he told him that 500 farmers have died but the prime minister asked whether they had died for him, she said.
The Congress leader asked why the government has increased the cost of agriculture by Rs 25,000 per hectare by inflating the cost of diesel, pesticides and fertilisers.
She also highlighted the death of a farmer in Uttar Pradesh's Lalitpur while waiting for his turn at fertiliser shop for two days.
"These are the questions that one needs to raise and I think the foremost question is how Ajay Mishra 'Teni' still a minister," she asked.
SSM is a political front launched by 22 farmers' unions to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab.
It fielded gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana from the Maur assembly constituency in its list of 34 candidates released on Sunday.
(With PTI Inputs)