Sikki in fray, to file nomination tomorrow

Tuesday, 26/01/2016

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/

Chandigarh : Putting to rest all speculations, senior Congress leader Rana Gurjit Singh today said Ramanjit Singh Sikki would be contesting the Khadoor Sahib byelection, scheduled for February 13. He will be filing his nomination papers on January 27, the last day for filing the papers for this crucial bypoll, dubbed as a semi-final of the 2017 Assembly elections.

Sikki, who reportedly performs sewa at the Darbar Sahib for the entire month of January, will reportedly be taking “leave” from his sewa on Wednesday to file his papers.

Several top leaders of the Congress, led by Rana Gurjit Singh, will accompany him as he files his nomination.

Talking to The Tribune, Rana Gurjit Singh, who is considered as Sikki’s political mentor, said the papers were ready and they would be filing it on Wednesday. In Tarn Taran, Sikki’s personal assistant German Singh Kang, too, confirmed that the former MLA, whose resignation from the Assembly seat in October 2015 led to the bypoll, would file his papers on the last day. His name was finalised by the Congress high command on January 23, but the formal announcement is yet to be made.

The reason for the delay in making the formal announcement reportedly was that Sikki was reluctant to contest the bypoll. Though Sikki may be the best bet for the Congress to contest the bypoll, his reluctance was because the “moral grouse” on which he had resigned has not been addressed so far.

It is learnt that it took a lot of “convincing” on part of some top Congress leaders, including Rana Gurjit Singh, to ensure that Sikki entered the fray now.

Rana Gurjit Singh told The Tribune that Sikki resigned following a “divine calling”. “He is a devout Sikh and the incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, pricked his conscience. Without realising what the outcome of his step would be, he went by his conscience and resigned,” he said.

Sikki’s resignation on October 18 last year had caught not just the ruling Akali BJP alliance, but even the Congress unawares. Many leaders within the Congress believe that Sikki’s resignation was a political gimmick that “misfired”. Several leaders feel that Sikki, who is a devout Sikh himself and represents a largely Panthic constituency, had not anticipated that his resignation would be accepted by the Speaker so soon. His resignation was accepted on November 18, a day after he failed to appear before the Speaker and submit his resignation in person.

The ruling Akali Dal, which has won three of the four bypoll held during the current tenure of the Vidhan Sabha, “outsmarted” Sikki and the Congress. Unlike in other cases when Arvind Khanna and Capt Amarinder Singh had resigned, the Speaker waited for some time before accepting their resignations. Sikki’s resignation was accepted within a month of submission even as he did not appear before the Speaker and only sent him a letter.

This has forced a fifth bypoll in the ongoing Vidhan Sabha’s tenure. Sources in the state election commission say the cost of conducting an Assembly bypoll is between Rs80 lakh and Rs1 crore. “The money is spent on giving honorarium to employees engaged for poll duty, petrol and diesel used in vehicles for touring the constituency, changing the batteries of EVMs etc,” said a senior official.