The battle lines are drawn but the fight within the Congress party for the Gurdaspur seat has, so far, prevented the declaration of its Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar as the “general” for leading the party to victory.
Till about two days back, the Congress was almost sure of Jakhar’s candidature from Gurdaspur seat, going for poll on October 11 after the sitting BJP MP Vinod Khanna passed away in April this year. But, the local versus outsider debate has delayed the same.
After assessing the situation, State party affairs secretary in-charge Asha Kumari on Friday made a recommendation to the party high command after taking feedback from the party MlAs, MPs, local leaders and workers from the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency.
“I have talked to all sections in the constituency, from top to bottom, taken their feedback and send it to the AICC (All India Congress Committee). Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will be back on Friday and I’ll be meeting him and Jakhar to convey my final feedback to the party president Sonia Gandhi and the vice-president Rahul Gandhi,” Asha Kumari told The Pioneer.
Jakhar has already reached Delhi on Friday as Sonia Gandhi has invited him for meeting to finalise the candidate’s name.
After the seven party MlAs from the constituency agreed on Jakhar’s name, the Bajwa family staked their claims on the seat — bringing forth the intense infighting in the region.
Former state party chief and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa has been lobbying hard for his wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa’s name, while his brother and Qadian MlA Fateh Jung Bajwa is gathering support in favour of his sister-in-law who left her seat in his favour for 2017 polls.
On the other hand, the Cabinet Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa wanted the ticket for his son — turning the Gurdaspur battle into Bajwa versus Bajwa much before the final showdown.