Congress keeps contentious constituencies on hold

Friday, 16/12/2016

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Chandigarh : It looks too little too late for Congress party which came out with the list of 61 candidates in the first round on Thursday evening. Most of these constituencies have gone to the candidates along the expected lines.

However, notable exceptions are certainly there like Dhuri, which was expected to be allotted to Simar Partap Singh Barnala, the grandson of former Chief Minister and Akali stalwart Surjit Singh Barnala, has instead been allotted to Dalvir Singh Goldy.

Similarly, the PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh has not managed to retain Bathinda Urban for Surinder Singla and it has gone to Manpreet Singh Badal, former Finance Minister of Punjab. Amarinder was not very keen to field Manpreet from there.

Former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has also been made to contest from Lehra, the seat she wanted to change after Parminder Dhindsa was fielded by the Shiromani Akali Dal from there.

As expected, the Congress is still stuck over the fate of the turncoats like Inderbir Singh Bolaria, Swaran Singh Philaur and Mahesh Inder Singh.There is strong opposition to their candidature.

In the first round it appears to be an open game since none of the contentious constituencies has been considered. Whether Capt. Amarinder manages to assert his authority and get the tickets for the candidates whom he wants to field will be determined in the next list only. The party has to announce 56 candidates more.

While the first list has mostly been along the expected lines, it will be the next list which will be keenly watched. It is likely to cause and create stir and storm within the party. That probably explains the reason about the party trying to bide time and pacify those who will be left out.

The first round does not appear to have gone to anyone in the on-going struggle of dominance within the party.

Congress adheres to ‘one family, one candidate’ criterian

Chandigarh: With release of its first list of its candidates on Thursday evening, the Congress seems to have stuck to its ‘One Family One candidate’ criteria while allocating tickets to aspirants for Punjab Assembly Elections.

The Congress has changed three sitting MLAs, under the one family one candidate criteria, in the constituencies of - Patiala Urban where Capt. Amarinder Singh will contest this time in place of Preneet Kaur, in Qadian where Charanjit Kaur Bajwa has been replaced by her brother-in-law, Fatehjung Singh Bajwa and in Nawanshahr where Gur Iqbal Kaur has given way to her son Angad Saini.