A wave of resentment brewing within the Congress party over the allocation of tickets in Punjab has compelled the party’s national president Rahul Gandhi to intervene.
Taking serious note of the situation, Rahul has, in fact, sought a detailed report from the party general secretary KC Venugopal.
So far, the Congress has declared its candidates for nine, out of the total 13 seats, in Punjab, while the decision on remaining four is expected by this week. The next meeting of the central election committee is expected to be held on April 12 or 13.
The Congress is facing resentment against its nominees in Patiala, Jalandhar, Faridkot, and Hoshiarpur constituencies, with senior party leaders and ticket aspirants going public against the leadership.
Congress’ sitting MLA from Amloh Randeep Singh Nabha, who has been seeking ticket from Patiala, was the first one to vent his ire against the party nominee Preneet Kaur by declaring that he would not campaign for the former Union Minister.
Jalandhar’s former MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee too washed the dirty linens in public by describing the party ticket to sitting Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh as his “political murder”, and gave enough indications to enter the electoral field from the constituency as independent candidate, if needed.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has intervened in the matter and made attempts to pacify the Congress veteran while assuring him a “suitable” position. However, Kaypee has met senior leadership in Delhi on Tuesday amidst the reports that the party may put the Jalandhar seat for review.
To mollify the angered Congress leader, intensive efforts were being made by the party leadership. After the state Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh met Kaypee, the former MP met the Chief Minister and party MLA Raj Kumar Verka.
Another senior party leader, after meeting Kaypee, told The Pioneer that the party was serious on grievances raised by him, and may review the seat from Jalandhar. “Not fielding a Valmiki Majhabi Sikh candidate from any of the reserved seat is a mistake. The decision about this will also come soon,” said the leader.
Giving party ticket to sitting legislator from Chabbewal, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, too failed to go down well with other aspirants as the former Union Minister of State and former Hoshiarpur MP Santosh Chaudhary minced no words to say that the “moneyed and powerful” had an advantage in getting themselves nominated from the reserved seat.
Questioning party ticket to former Union Minister Preneeet Kaur, who lost 2014 election, this time again, 76-year-old Chaudhary also blamed the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder for denying her the ticket from Hoshiarpur while asking the party high command to explain why she was “punished for no reason”.
That is not all! The Congress is also facing problem in Faridkot reserve constituency from where the party decided to lay its bet on the folk singer-turned-politician Mohd Sadique — a decision opposed by the leader if Majhabi Sikh community.
Ferozepur Rural MLA Satkar Kaur maintained that the community wanted that one ticket from any reserved seats should be given to Majhabi Sikhs — a dominant community in the state amongst the dalit population. The Congress has so far failed to give the Majhabi Sikh any representation in the four reserved seats of Jalandhar, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur, and Fatehgarh Sahib.
It has been learnt that the Congress high command has expressed dissatisfaction over the names recommended by the state election panel for crucial seats of Bathinda, Ferozepur, Sangrur, and Sri Anandpur Sahib considering the not-so-favourable reports about the shortlisted candidates in the party’s latest survey.
Now, the high command has taken upon itself the task of deciding on the candidate for these remaining seats. Notably, the high command has, so far, decided the candidates on nine seats considering the recommendations by the state leadership.
Moreover, the state leadership is also not speaking in one voice on the remaining four seats. Capt Amarinder is backing Cabinet Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi from Ferozepur, while Jakhar is proposing to field the sitting MP Sher Singh Ghubaya who recently switched sides from SAD to Congress.
In Sangrur too, Capt Amarinder is recommending the name of former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon, but the party high command is considering him a “weak” candidate, and backing the state Cabinet Minister and former MP Vijay Inder Singh’s candidature.
For the hot-seat of Bathinda, the party is considering to field a strong candidate against SAD’s sitting MP Harsimrat Badal, who is expected to seek her re-election from the constituency known as the Badals bastion.
Finance Minister Manpreet Badal was the top choice for the seat, but he has expressed his reluctance to contest, and conveyed the same to the party high command. Besides him, the state panel has recommended the name of the state Health Minister Brahm Mohindra’s son, Mohit Mohindra, for the seat, but that was too overruled by the high command.
After being denied ticket from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s name was being considered for Bathinda or Sri Anandpur Sahib constituency, even though the former MLA has made it clear that shge would not contest from other seat than Chandigarh or her home constituency Amritsar—from where the COnggress has already fielded former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, and sitting MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, respectively.
For Sri Anandpur Sahib, the state Election Committee has recommended the name of former Union Minister Manish Tewari, while the party chief RaGa has made clear his intentions of not giving him the ticket after he refused to contest 2014 elections.
Besides, party’s national spokesperson and young leader Jaiveer Shergill is also being considered for the seat.
