In Chamkaur Sahib, Channi tests troubled waters over a bridge

Along the mighty Satluj river bank in Mallewal village in Punjab’s high profile Chamkaur Sahib assembly constituency, it’s an altogether different yearning that is spinning the narrative ahead of the February 20 polls. Each year every monsoon, the Satluj River overflows in nearby catchment areas. Dozens of villages on each side of the river remain cut off until water recedes.

Schools shut down and movement is restricted to a much longer route via the road. It’s all about a bridge on the river that has eluded this segment for decades – which is now a political issue in this constituency represented by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

For most part of the year, it’s a 5-10 minutes boat ride that takes villagers to the other side of the river as and when the indigenous ferry tucks in. All this also brings in the gruelling effort to load and unload motorcycles and other heavy baggage inside the boat.

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Karam Singh of the village explains how just a bridge will make lives of dozens of villages on either side of the bank much easier. “When the river is flooded, no boats are there. People have to travel long distances via the road which, if the bridge was there, would not take more than a few minutes,” he said.

People see hope in Channi, the Congress CM face and the sitting MLA from this segment. But nothing changed when he was the MLA for the last five years. The foundation stone of the bridge was laid by Channi in November last year, but not a brick was added since.

Channi’s sudden exponential rise, first as the CM and now to the CM face of the party, is changing the way the electorate is looking at the Congress in this segment. But the ‘ill-fame’ surrounding Channi that he tries to brush aside with facts catches up with him, both here and in Bhadaur, the other segment he is contesting from.

In Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, Channi’s “gareeb aadmi and aam aadmi” claim is being talked about and ridiculed as well. His opponents are drubbing him for being an aam aadmi with assets worth crores of rupees. The ED raids on Channi’s nephew involved in an illegal sand mining case and the recovery of Rs 10 crore from the house of the accused in custody have added to Channi’s woes.

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Channi’s wife Dr Kamaljit Kaur, who resigned as a government senior medical officer, and his 26-year old daughter-in-law Simran, are campaigning door to door in Chamkaur Sahib seeking votes for the Dalit leader. Channi appears to have an advantage over his AAP namesake rival Charanjit Singh, a local eye surgeon and a philanthropist, who in 2017 lost to Channi.

In Bhadaur in Barnala district in Malwa region, Channi faces a challenge, albeit it’s a tactical move by the party to ensure some gains in electorally vital Malwa which accounts for 69 of the 117 seats in Punjab.

Bhadaur is not a safe seat as the Congress has won this seat only twice, most recently in 2012. Bhadaur is considered an SAD stronghold.

Channi is locked into a tough fight against AAP’s Labh Singh who runs a mobile phone repair shop in a village. Labh’s (35) father is a driver while his mother works as a help in a local government school. In 2017, when AAP entered the poll fray, the seat went to another AAP candidate.

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