The 2017 Punjab Assembly election is, apparently, turning out to be a battle of stalwarts with Congress planning to go the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) way of fielding heavyweights against bigwigs.
Congress has already announced the battle of titans between its State president Capt Amarinder Singh and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from the latter’s citadel.
Only a day before, Capt Amarinder on Twitter shared that he had sought permission from the party high command to fight elections from Badal’s constituency, lambi.
The announcement, which is yet to get the official stamp of Congress high command, came days after the AAP fielded shoe-hurler Jarnail Singh from lambi Assembly segment.
Capt Amarinder on Sunday maintained that he will go to lambi and fight there to win the Punjab elections which are due this year. Reports are that he would be filing nomination papers from lambi on January 18 - the last day for filing nominations.
The triangular fight is expected to be energetic and a closely contested considering that some of the surveys held by various media organisations ahead of the elections indicated that the State’s electors still see Badal as the best chief ministerial candidate ahead of the rest.
Interestingly, post-election, either of the three parties will find their star candidates missing in the Assembly after the Government is formed.
Other than Capt Amarinder, the Congress is also considering to field its ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu against SAD chief Sukhbir Badal from his home constituency - Jalalabad, from where AAP has fielded its most popular leader Bhagwant Mann, who is sitting Sangrur MP.
It has been learnt that the Congress has almost finalised on these names and the just the formal announcement is left. The Congress, which has so far announced 108 candidates for the elections to 117-member Vidhan Sabha, is expected to announce the remaining names on Monday.
“We are left with nine names and these will be announced by tomorrow. The high command has decided on these names,” a senior Congress leader told The Pioneer.
Besides deciding on the names of Capt Amarinder and Bittu, available information suggests that turncoat MlA and Olympian Pargat Singh would seek re-election from Jalandhar Cantonment, this time as Congress candidate.
Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has joined Congress party on Sunday, will be fielded from the constituency represented by his wife, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu - Amritsar East.
After reports of Pargat Singh getting Congress ticket from Jalandhar Cantt, former MlA Jagbir Brar has announced holding a gathering at Pholariwal on Monday to decide his next course of action.
Earlier in the evening, Brar was not ready to accept that Pargat’s name has been finalised. He was expecting ticket from the seat he contested in 2012.