Sangrur/Chandigarh: A former Indian Ambassador to the United States, the kin of the assassin of former PM Indira Gandhi, two former union ministers, Sufi singers, a former chief minister, Khalistani protagonists, a celebrated movie actor, a gangster-turned neta are some prominent ones sweating it out in Punjab in an election bereft of any clear wave for any party.
Agrarian distress, relentless farmer protests, spiraling drug menace, Agniveer scheme, Center's flagship schemes, AAP’s push for quality healthcare and education and Modi’s pro-farmer pro-Sikh pitch are conspicuous issues shaping the political discourse in Punjab ahead of the June 1 polling day.
Former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is the wife of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and seeking a fourth consecutive term, is up against tough opponents in her traditional bastion. She often invokes the legacy of SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal to strike an emotional connect with her constituents.
In Patiala, former union minister in UPA government, Preneet Kaur is contesting as a BJP nominee. Patiala is the pocket borough of the erstwhile royal family of Capt Amainder Singh.
Interestingly, Capt Amarinder Singh, who is the senior most BJP leader in Punjab, hasn’t turned up once for campaigning for any leader, not even his wife Preneet Kaur. His aides say he was admitted in hospital and has been advised rest.
It is a direct contest between Kaur and Congress’s Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, a cardiologist who was earlier an MP of the AAP in 2014. Kaur is banking on the Hindu votes and the Modi factor.
Taranjit Sidhu, who recently retired as the Indian ambassador to the US is BJP pick for the Amritsar parliamentary constituency. Congress candidate Gurjeet Aujla is hoping he for a hat-trick. Interestingly, the SAD has put up a Hindu face, Anil Joshi, to take on the other contestants.
Former Congress CM Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit, is in a contest from Jalandhar, which has three turncoat contenders of mainstream parties. Singer Hans Raj Hans is trying his luck from Faridkot as a BJP candidate and is pitted against Punjabi actor and singer Karamjit Anmol of the AAP.
Anmol, a close friend of CM Mann, has turned this fight into a star studded event. In fray is also Sarabjit Khalsa, the 45-year old son of Beant Singh, one of the two assassins of former PM Indira Gandhi. He is seeking votes on the sacrilege issue.
The farmers protest is giving sleepless nights to BJP contenders who are being denied their right to campaign.
In Faridkot, Hans Raj Hans says, he was crowded by lathi-wielding farmers who blocked his way to a village. “For a moment, I thought my time had come. I composed myself, giving in gracefully to whatever would come his way,” Hans told DHNS.
The BJP has built the narrative around BJP’s pro-farmer schemes that has made them beneficiaries. PM Modi and other leaders have centered the discourse on the pro-Sikh lineage citing the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor link and other initiatives, including changes made to allow foreign donations for Sikh shrines and announcing the day of sacrifice of the Sikh Chhote Sahibzaade as Veer Bal Divas.
“Agrarian distress is there. But MSP guarantee alone is not the solution. The income of farmers has to be augmented,” Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar told DHNS.
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