An “indecisive” Congress is apparently voting for confusion. Having eight sitting MPs from Punjab, the party has so far declared the candidature of just three of them, including one Union Minister, that too in the first list issued on March 8.
Taking everyone by surprise, the names of five sitting parliamentarians, including two Union Ministers, have gone missing in the party’s second list released on late Thursday evening.
Although the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has come out with the names of its all ten candidates, the Congress is yet to declare its eight candidates out of 13 for 2014 lok Sabha polls.
As of now the suspense continues over the name of Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari, even as the sitting MP and former Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has been fielded by the party from Chandigarh.
With elections just over a month away, the party has re-nominated three MPs — Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur from Patiala, Ravneet Singh Bittu from Anandpur Sahib and Vijay Inder Singla from Sangrur. Besides party’s state unit general secretary Harminder Singh Gill has been declared as party candidate from Khadoor Sahib.
For Bathinda seat, the Congress party has strike a deal with the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) and fielded former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal as Congress-PPP candidate against sitting Akali MP and his sister-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Party’s first list of four candidates for Punjab throw many surprises as it left out the big names like Tewari, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Santosh Chowdhary — Hoshiarpur MP, besides the State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa — Gurdaspur MP.
The clouds of indecision loomed large on the Congress party in Punjab with the sitting MPs, including Tewari, Bajwa, showing reluctance to contest 2014 parliamentary polls from ludhiana and Gurdaspur respectively.
While Tewari was eyeing “safe” Chandigarh seat for himself making veiled attacks at Bansal, Bajwa appeared to be more inclined towards state politics with an eye on the Chief Minister’s seat in future.
Tewari, with ludhiana constituency all set to witness a multi-cornered contest this time, has been making every possible effort to shift to Chandigarh — his home town. However, the reliable sources maintained that Tewari has agreed to contest from ludhiana, and has also opened his election office in Dakha.
Besides SAD’s Manpreet Singh Ayali, the sitting MP would be facing challenge from Aam Aadmi Party’s HS Phoolka and an independent candidate Simarjeet Singh Bains.
Bajwa has also made up its mind to contest polls from Gurdaspur, where the BJP is also yet to declare its candidate in alliance with the SAD.
It has been learnt that party is looking for Chowdhary’s replacement, while the name of Punjab Youth Congress chief Vikram Singh Chaudhary is doing the rounds for Jalandhar seat. Sources maintained that the party’s sitting Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee may be shifted to Hoshiarpur. Congress’ sitting MP from Fatehgarh Sahib Sukhdev Singh libra is expected to get the ticket again, but with his name not included in the second list too, it has raised many question marks.
The party is also juggling between several names for the seats which it lost during 2009 polls — Amritsar, Faridkot, and Ferozepur.
The situation in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is no different. With the local BJP unit awaiting the declaration of name of the candidates for three seats it would contest in coalition with the SAD, they faced disappointment at the end of the day as the central election committee could not make final call on the seats.
Sources maintained that though the names for the Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur constituency are almost final, the party is taking its time to decide a candidate for Amritsar seat.
For Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur, the party seemed to have finalised on the name of actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and sitting MlA from Phagwara Som Parkash respectively.
The party high command is not too sure whether to re-nominate cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar. Rather, it is expected to field senior party leader and the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.
Following Sidhu’s strained relations with not only the SAD, but also with some of the BJP leaders, coupled with his long absence from the constituency, unkept promises, and low winning margin in 2009 parliamentary polls, the party high command is looking for his replacement.
But, considering that Sidhu has been party’s “star campaigner” and denying ticket to party’s lone MP from state may send wrong signals, BJP is taking no chance in selecting the candidate.
Replacing Sidhu with a senior leader, and that too of Jaitley’s stature seems to be the right move, refraining Sidhu from revolting against the party.