Chandigarh: Congress in Punjab may hate to admit it, there is a potential threat of severe damage staring at it this election in at least 10 assembly constituencies where some of its prominent leaders - who have been denied tickets for themselves or their favourite ones - are fighting as independents or joined the rivals against the party candidates.
Though some of the leaders, who did not want to be named, agreed that there was a little resentment among a few over denial of ticket to them. Insisting that these aspirants have, however, been pacified, they held that there is no rebellion in the party as was feared after the former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh floated his Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) as not even a single senior leader has joined him.
Here are the rebels:
Chief minister Channi’s brother Dr Manohar has jumped into the fray in Bassi Pathana constituency (district Fatehgarh Sahib) against sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh, leaving the Congress leadership embarrassed.
The four-time MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon is contesting as independent from his Samrala (district Ludhiana) seat after the Congress decided to field Rupinder Singh Raja Gill, a prominent realtor from nearby Khanna segment and who is the son of former minister Karam Singh Gill.
Another potential threat of damage is from three-time former MLA Harminder Singh Jassi, a relative of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is contesting from Talwandi Sabo seat (district Bathinda) against party candidate Khushbaz Singh Jattana.
Congress’ sitting MLA at Nawanshahr seat Angad Singh is contesting as independent after being replaced with Satvir Singh Palli Jhikki. Angad was denied a ticket by state Congress as his wife Aditi Singh, MLA from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, joined the BJP.
Cabinet minister Rana Gurjeet’s son Rana Inder Partap Singh, is contesting from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district as an independent against the party candidate Navtej Singh Cheema. The minister is the Congress candidate from Kapurthala!
Besides, there are also some other leaders like former state Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee and former minister Jagmohan Singh Kang, who are anguished over Congress’ candidate selection at their respective seats.
The ticket denial to the senior leader Kaypee was subsequent to his and his family members’ three defeats in a row. While he lost to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Pawan Tinu from Adampur in 2017 and was earlier defeated by BJP’s Vijay Sampla in 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Hoshiarpur seat. His wife Suman Kaypee lost her 2012 election at his home constituency of Jalandhar (west).
A three-time MLA, Kang was also Punjab Congress vice president. Elected in 1992, 2002, and 2012, he was a minister too from 1992 to 1995. He lost to Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) candidate Kanwar Sandhu in 2017 in Kharar constituency (district Mohali).
Kang, but, has major sway in the constituency. He along with his two sons, Amarinder, who was the state general secretary of the social media wing of Punjab Congress, and Yadavinder, who was a member, Zila Parishad (Khizrabad) have joined AAP after Congress gave the party ticket to Vijay Sharma.
Likewise, there are a few other leaders also including Amarjit Singh Tikka his nephew Sukhwinder Singh Bindra who wanted tickets for Jalandhar (south) and Sahnewal (Ludhiana) seats, respectively, but were denied. Another firebrand leader and national secretary of Youth Congress, Daman Bajwa was denied a ticket for Sunam (district Sangrur), and party insiders say she could cause a dent in the party candidate. The trio has joined BJP.
