Ahead of Punjab Assembly elections, Bhadaur constituency is giving a hint of a classic David vs Goliath battle as AAP has fielded a mobile repair shop owner from the seat in which CM Charanjit Singh Channi is contesting from.
“The entire national media is searching for me in villages here, asking who is the person against whom the Congress had to field its chief minister,” said Labh Singh of Aam Aadmi Party in a conversation with CNN-News18.
Congress has fielded Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib seats for the February 20 Punjab assembly polls.
“Channi is scared to lose from Chamkaur Sahib so he has come to Bhadaur. He does not know the history of this seat. In 1952, Baba Arjan Singh, a freedom fighter, became the first MLA from Bhadaur by going around on a cycle, winning against King Nirpal Singh. In Bhadaur, only people connected to the ground won. In 2012, the chief secretary in the Badal government lost from here. People here don’t see how big or rich a candidate is — they see who is the one like them. I am like their son and I live in a small village here, people know who the aam aadmi is,” Labh Singh told the publication.
The Bhadaur constituency, which is held by AAP currently, was won by Congress only once in the last 50 years in 2012.
Referring to the raid on Channi's nephew, Labh Singh said, “I live in a two-room house and came into politics. Is Channi an aam aadmi after Rs 10 crore was found from his relative’s home? Just by taking a simple shawl, one does not become an aam aadmi. Channi is a dikhawe ke aam aadmi. His son moves around in a Rs 2-crore car. Aam aadmi is someone who can move around here on a motorcycle or even a bus — like me.”
Claiming that Channi has not undertaken any developmental activities at Chamkaur Sahib Singh asked the media “to find the development in Chamkaur Sahib — look at the poor state of schools and hospitals there.”
“Two months ago, the police of Channi were raining lathis on unemployed youth here, now he is coming here with folded hands,” Singh added.
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