Congress may field three prominent Hindu leaders in Punjab

Saturday, 30/03/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/03/29/congress-may-field-three-prominent-hindu-leaders-in-punjab/

Chandigrah : Congress is likely to field at least three prominent Hindu candidates of the ten general constituencies in the state.

They include Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur, Vijay Inder Singla from Bathinda and Manish Tewari from Anandpur Sahab.

Sources privy to the developments told the Punjab Express that the party high command has left it to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to shortlist the candidates who will be approved by the Central Election Committee, that is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

Besides these three constituencies, the party has reportedly shortlisted Kewal Dhillon from Sangrur.

Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi is the likely candidate from Ferozepur as the party wants to give a tough fight to the Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal, who is likely to contest from there.

The party has already decided to renominate Santokh Chaudhry from Jalandhar and Ravneet Bittu from Ludhiana. However, the fate of Amritsar MP Gurjit Aujla still hangs fire as the party is understood to be seeking his replacement.

The Congress party is faced with confronting the Modi appeal among the Hindu electorate that overwhelmingly voted for Capt Amarinder Singh in 2017. The party will find it difficult to retain those votes this time since it is not Capt Amarinder’s but Modi’s election
this time.

Besides the way Congress government handled the Bargadi issue created a perception of the parry toeing a pro-panthic line. Whether it will fetch the party any dividends is difficult to make out though.

By deciding to field three prominent Hindu leaders this time, it has apparently tried to neutralise the Modi impact in the state. In case Modi finds some appeal among the Hindu community, it will turn into a formidable challenge in combination with the Akalis.

The choice of Bathinda, if finalised, appears to be surprising as more than Singla, it was Brahm Mohindra who was considered to be more serious in fielding his son Mohit, an active Youth Congress leader, from Bathinda. Singla is reportedly not keen to contest the parliamentary election since he is a cabinet minister in the Punjab government holding the all important portfolio of the Public Works Department.

There were many claimants for Sangrur including former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

For Anandpur Sahab, besides Tewari, Capt Sandeep Sandhu, the Political Secretary to the Chief Minister is a serious contender.