Congress apparently exercised its franchise in favour of “not-so-strong candidates” just before the parliamentary polls — an act that the party claimed resulted in its defeat in 2012 Punjab Assembly polls. Leaving nothing to chance after a fresh survey indicated the slip-ups in the decision making process, the party has decided to start from the scratch. Holding cards close to its chest waiting for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to cut the first turf, Congress has, in fact, re-strategized after the possibility of SAD president Sukhbir Badal also throwing his hat in the electoral ring.
There are reports that Sukhbir may contest from Ferozepur while his Union Minister wife Harsimrat Badal may seek re-election from Bathinda for the third consecutive time. It has also been learnt that the Congress central leadership has get a fresh survey conducted in the State, which turned down the probables names proposed by the state party unit, except Preneet Kaur from Patiala and Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana.
During the screening committee’s meeting, All India Congress Committee’s general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal, state party affairs’ in-charge Asha Kumari, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and state unit president Sunil Jakhar reviewed the potential candidates on all seats.
As of now, Congress has proposed sitting MP Jakhar’s name from Gurdaspur, while a section of party leaders are now insisting that Punjab Congress president should be fielded from Ferozepur in case Sukhbir enters the electoral fray.
Jakhar, who is keen to contest from Gurdaspur, maintained that he would contest from any seat from where his party would ask him to.
However, Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and his son Anumeet Sodhi have staked claim on the ticket from Ferozepur, while the SAD rebel and sitting MP Sher Singh Gubhaya, who recently joined the Congress,
has already started campaigning confident of getting the ticket.
On the other hand, the Congress wanted to field Finance Minister Manpreet Badal from Bathinda, but he has expressed his unwillingness to contest. At the same time, the state Health Minister Brahm Mohindra’s son, Mohit Mohindra, has been shortlisted for the seat. Bathinda had witnessed a fight within the Badal family in 2014 elections, in which Harsimrat defeated her estranged brother-in-law Manpreet, by a narrow margin. And considering the diminishing winning margins from 1,20,948 votes in 2009 Lok Sabha elections to 19,395 votes in 2014, SAD is now mulling to shift Harsimrat to the neighbouring Ferozepur which is seen as a safer bet this time.
Congress candidates from Ferozepur and Bathinda will depend on the Akali Dal’s move to shift Harsimrat to Ferozepur from Bathinda — which has been the epicentre of anti-sacrilege protests against the Badals, or Sukhbir may himself decide to throw his hat in the electoral ring from Ferozepur retaining Bathinda for Harsimrat.
