As the Shiromani Akali Dal has not yet announced its candidate from Bathinda, sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Monday said it was the party’s prerogative to give tickets to candidates it deems fit but if she contests this Lok Sabha election, it will be from the Bathinda parliamentary seat only.

The Sukhbir Singh Badal-led SAD is yet to name a candidate from Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, which is currently represented by Harsimrat.

The party on April 13 announced its candidates from the Gurdaspur, Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Sangrur, Amritsar and the Faridkot seats in Punjab for the Lok Sabha election.

Speaking to reporters in Bathinda on Monday, Harsimrat said, “The party will decide who gets the ticket. But it is my decision that if I fight the election, then it will be from Bathinda only.” The Bathinda Lok Sabha seat is considered a stronghold of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Harsimrat Kaur won the seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019. In the last Lok Sabha polls in 2019, she defeated Congress candidate Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.

Responding to a question, she said former minister and senior SAD leader Sikander Singh Maluka stands by the party and took a dig at his son Gurpreet Singh Maluka and daughter-in-law Parampal Kaur Sidhu who joined the BJP a few days back.  “If his children have turned ‘baaghi’ (rebel) then it reflects on them. The positions they enjoyed were because of (Sikander Singh) Maluka saab. Now, if they do not stand by their father, then how people will have any hope for them,” Harsimrat said. Before joining the BJP, Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a 2011-batch IAS officer, had put in her papers. She is likely to be fielded by the BJP from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat.

To a question, Harsimrat targeted the Congress for fielding former MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu from the Bathinda parliamentary constituency. “The Congress gave a ticket to a man who was expelled by the Akali Dal,” she said. 
Jeet Mohinder Sidhu rejoined the Congress last year after quitting the Shiromani Akali Dal. He was earlier with the Congress and had joined the SAD in 2014.

On the BJP’s poll manifesto, Harsimrat took a swipe at the party by asking if two crore jobs had been given and farmers’ income doubled. She asserted that her party did whatever it had said.