SAD, BJP at loggerheads over Ferozepur cantt elections
Monday, 22/12/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/politics/sad-bjp-at-loggerheads-over-ferozepur-cantt-elections/20991.html
Ferozepur : The BJP and the SAD are supporting separate candidates for Ferozepur Cantonment Board elections scheduled on January 11, fuelling speculations about the alliance partners’ growing differences.
From ward number 1, SAD MLA Joginder Singh Jindu’s son Rohit has been elected unopposed, but in other wards, SAD and BJP candidates are at daggers drawn. Though elections are not being contested on party symbol as per rules mandated by the Cantonment Act, both the parties are drumming up support for their own candidates giving an impression that all is not well within the coalition. Most of the SAD-supported candidates have taken “Lion” as their symbol while BJP candidates have been allotted the “Cow” symbol. The Congress-backed candidates have opted for the “Mother with child” symbol.
Two former Akali councillors Gobind Ram and Zora Singh have switched over to the BJP camp and are contesting from ward numbers 3 and 4, for whom senior BJP leaders have launched a vigorous campaign. The BJP has fielded relatively new faces from other wards. On the other side, the SAD has fielded Surinder Singh, the elder son of MLA Jindu, from Ward No 2, besides fielding parallel candidates from other wards, making the fight triangular as the Congress-supported candidates are also in fray from all wards. The development is being seen as crucial since the civic body elections in other parts of the state are also on the anvil.
Though both SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and BJP state chief Kamal Sharma have maintained that the parties would contest the municipal elections together, the ground reality seems to be different.
