Four constituencies in the State go to polls in the first phase
V for victory: Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is contesting from the Bhatinda parliamentary constituency, at a public meeting in the constituency on Tuesday.
K. V. Prasad
SANGRUR: Punjab is getting ready to go to the polls in the first phase on Thursday and the battle opener in the four constituencies of Patiala, Bhatinda, Sangrur and Ferozepur can set the pace for the main political rivals – the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress party.
While the Akali leader and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal may claim that the contest is between parties, the buzz among party workers is that this election is a direct duel between the two big political families of the State -- the Badals and the Patiala royals represented by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh; his wife and Congress MP from Patiala Parneet Kaur who is now seeking a third term in the Lok Sabha; and their son Raninder Singh, a candidate from Bhatinda.
Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who has taken over command of the campaign, has made the contest a matter of prestige by fielding his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal in Bhatinda, considered an Akali stronghold. She also hails from another prominent Majitha family with her brother Bikaramjit Singh serving as a powerful Minister in the Badal Government.
On the other hand, Raninder Singh has been nursing the constituency for the past few years and is credited to be the architect behind the Congress winning the maximum seats in the Malwa region when it faced a rout in Majha and Doaba, the other two re
gions of Punjab, in the 2007 State Assembly polls. The stakes are high for both sides.
Yet one factor, the call by the influential Dera Sacha Sauda sect to vote for the Congress two years ago enabling the party to buck the anti-incumbency trend against the Amarinder Singh Government, is missing. Having faced turbulence and criminal cases against its chief, the Dera has preferred to advise its followers spread across Punjab and Haryana to vote according to local “consensus”.
Elsewhere the Congress has fielded former MP and strongman Jagmeet Singh Brar from Ferozepur while in Sangrur, former State Youth Congress chief Vijay Inder Singla is engaged in a tight contest with sitting MP and former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
Mr. Singla may be a rookie in poll politics but being the son of former State Minister and former MP Sant Ram Singla he has the blessings of the Patiala palace.
Adding to it is the talk that he is among the four youth candidates handpicked by Rahul Gandhi in the State where he initiated the process of internal democracy in the State Youth Congress to elect its leaders.
While the Akali leader and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal may claim that the contest is between parties, the buzz among party workers is that this election is a direct duel between the two big political families of the State -- the Badals and the Patiala royals represented by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh; his wife and Congress MP from Patiala Parneet Kaur who is now seeking a third term in the Lok Sabha; and their son Raninder Singh, a candidate from Bhatinda.
Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who has taken over command of the campaign, has made the contest a matter of prestige by fielding his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal in Bhatinda, considered an Akali stronghold. She also hails from another prominent Majitha family with her brother Bikaramjit Singh serving as a powerful Minister in the Badal Government.
On the other hand, Raninder Singh has been nursing the constituency for the past few years and is credited to be the architect behind the Congress winning the maximum seats in the Malwa region when it faced a rout in Majha and Doaba, the other two re
gions of Punjab, in the 2007 State Assembly polls. The stakes are high for both sides.Yet one factor, the call by the influential Dera Sacha Sauda sect to vote for the Congress two years ago enabling the party to buck the anti-incumbency trend against the Amarinder Singh Government, is missing. Having faced turbulence and criminal cases against its chief, the Dera has preferred to advise its followers spread across Punjab and Haryana to vote according to local “consensus”.
Elsewhere the Congress has fielded former MP and strongman Jagmeet Singh Brar from Ferozepur while in Sangrur, former State Youth Congress chief Vijay Inder Singla is engaged in a tight contest with sitting MP and former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
Mr. Singla may be a rookie in poll politics but being the son of former State Minister and former MP Sant Ram Singla he has the blessings of the Patiala palace.
Adding to it is the talk that he is among the four youth candidates handpicked by Rahul Gandhi in the State where he initiated the process of internal democracy in the State Youth Congress to elect its leaders.
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