Patiala has more to it than a majestic peg. The royal city of Punjab with all its imperial grandeur has the capacity of saying cheers to surprises and leaving voters and their candidate with a feeling of high after voting for the unexpected.
It happened during the previous parliamentary polls in 2014 when an aam aadmi left rivals, especially Maharani of Patiala, high and dry by raising a toast to victory. This time, too, no one knows who will drink success like a fish in a known Congress citadel.
Sitting MP from Patiala, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, has already declared his candidature from the seat as a member of the fourth front — Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA). Congress is almost sure of reposing its faith once again on its three-time former MP and the former Union Minister Preneet Kaur from the seat.
But, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are desperately hunting for a strong candidate to match Preneet’s might and Dr Gandhi’s image.
Patiala’s one of the best-known cardiologists, Dr Gandhi, took everyone by surprise by defeating an incumbent Union Minister and the member of Patiala royal family in her citadel. Dr Gandhi’s win had come at a time when the political observers were expecting a close contest between the Congress’ Preneet Kaur and her confidante-turned-foe Deepinder Singh Dhillon as SAD-BJP combine candidate.
Elected on the AAP ticket, Dr Gandhi turned rebel with the party leadership putting him under suspension in 2015, while refusing to either revoke it or expel him from the party. Batting for autonomy, Dr Gandhi floated Punjab Manch — a political action group — in March 2018, and recently joined hands with various splinter groups giving shape to a mahagathbandhan (grand-alliance) — the Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA).
Despite still being AAP MP, Dr Gandhi declared to seek re-election from Patiala Lok Sabha elections seat as a part of PDA, representing his own group, leaving AAP in the lurch. Notwithstanding AAP’s frantic attempts to win over him, Dr Gandhi refused to reunite.
During his first stint as parliamentarian, Dr Gandhi kept his ears to the ground, while reaching out to the people of his constituency down at the grassroot level, listening to their grievances, finding its resolution, and translating his words of assurances into actual work, even if it would mean making repeated visits to the central ministers’ offices.
Out of the total Rs 25 crore MP LAD (local area development) fund, Dr Gandhi has utilised 98 percent of total funds — highest amongst the Punjab’s MPs. Establishing common cremation grounds for the people of all castes across his constituency has remained the main highlight of Dr Gandhi’s tenure.
As Dr Gandhi has made a place in the hearts of all Patialvis, cutting across all sections of society, through his hard work, commitment and social works, the “accessible” Preneet Kaur is already out in the field preparing to reclaim her throne.
She is conducting a tour hitting every nook and corner of Patiala Lok Sabha constituency — a seat once represented by her mother-in-law Maharani Mohinder Kaur in 1967, and then her husband Capt Amarinder Singh in 1980.
Preneet, having all the traits of a queen — giving patient hearing to the people of her bastion, remaining religiously connected to them, doing little if not big things to lessen their woes — helped her to conquer her rivals in three back-to-back elections in 1999, 2004 and 2009. And it required an aam aadmi to dislodge break her winning spree.
Preneet’s defeat in 2014 elections was also attributed to the absence of her husband and now Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in Patiala as he was also busy fighting it out on Amritsar electoral battlefield against BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley.
Capt Amarinder, this time, would not only ensure that Preneet got the Congress ticket from Patiala for her being the “obvious” choice, but also ensure her victory to repossess the royal seat. Notably, the royal family’s claim to the party ticket for Patiala seat has remained uncontested ever since Capt Amarinder returned to the Congress fold in 1998 after he parted ways in 1984 over Operation Bluestar.
But, a known Capt Amarinder critic and Congress’ sitting MLA Kaka Randeep Singh Nabha has also thrown his hat into the election-ring citing party’s “one-family, one ticket or post” rule.
Also having blue-blood running in his veins having family roots in Nabha royal family, Amloh MLA Nabha is hopeful to get the party ticket considering him being elected MLA thrice from Nabha assembly segment which forms the part of Patiala Lok Sabha seat. Besides, his father Gurdarshan Singh was also elected MLA thrice from Nabha.
Four-time MLA, Nabha was hopeful to get a Cabinet berth, but was left disappointed. “The party has come up with a ‘one ticket to one family’ rule during previous assembly polls to strike a balance amongst all party leaders. Considering that, i believe that party would take note of my claim,” pointed Nabha.
Nabha used to contest from Nabha assembly segment but had to shift to Amloh after the Nabha seat was reserved following the delimitation of constituencies in 2012.
A Congress pocket-borough, Patiala seat has always remained a challenge for the Akali Dal which has won only four elections out of total 16 the constituency has witnessed. But this time, the Akali Dal is planning to field someone from the Badal family to take on the Patiala royals.
Its previous candidate, Deepinder Singh Dhillon, has returned to his parent party the Congress ahead 2017 state elections, and had unsuccessfully contested from Dera Bassi segment against SAD’s NK Sharma.
However, the name of sitting Sri Anandpur Sahib MP Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, who had won Patiala twice in 1996 and 1998, is also under consideration. Former Minister and a modest-but-strong politician Surjit Singh Rakhra, who stunned the Patiala royal family scion Raninder Singh from Samana during 2012 assembly polls, is also on the list of probable candidates.
On the other hand, AAP is also struggling to find a candidate — not only to give a tough fight to Congress in its stronghold, but also to fill in Dr Gandhi’s shoes.
A senior AAP leader admitted that Dr Gandhi’s departure from AAP “would be very difficult for the party to overcome in Patiala as he had lifted the bar to another level” in the constituency.
AAP, however, is considering to field its state unit co in-charge Dr Balbir Singh — who had unsuccessfully contested 2017 assembly elections from Patiala urban against Capt Amarinder, and finished second lagging behind by a margin of 52,407 votes.
Dr Balbir, also a medical practitioner, was Dr Gandhi’s former associate. He had, in fact, campaigned aggressively for Dr Gandhi during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, before parting ways with him.
CONSTITUENCY AT A GLANCE
Patiala Lok Sabha constituency comprises nine Vidhan Sabha segments, of which seven are with the Congress, while just two are with the Akali Dal.
The constituency’s electoral history revealed that Patiala has remained a Congress stronghold, mainly because if the presence of Patiala royalty. Out of the 16 elections the constituency has witnessed, Congress won 10, including three by Preneet Kaur consecutively in 1999, 2004, and 2009.
The electors of this constituency revere the members of the royal family and referring to them as “Maharaja”, “Maharani” and “Yuvraj” even in general talks, but Dr Gandhi has made a niche for himself over these five years by emerging as “people’s man” which would be a difficult task for any leader to prevail over.
LAST ELECTION
The constituency witnessed a turnaround battle in 2014 general elections witnessing an aam aaadmi Dr Gandhi overthrowing Maharani Preneet’s 15-year rule in Patiala. At the time when everyone was expecting a close fight between Preneet and her once-close-aide Deepinder Singh Dhillon as SAD-BJP combine candidate, Dr Gandhi threw surprise in his first-ever elections.
But, the contest was a closely-contested battle with all the top three candidates — Dr Gandhi, Preneet, and Dhillon — getting almost equal share of votes. Dr Gandhi emerged winner by a margin of less than one percent votes, 0.87 percent (20,942 votes), while the difference between Preneet and Dhillon’s vote share was mere 0.41 percent (4,620 votes).
AAP’s candidate Dr Gandhi received 3,65,671 (31.62 percent of the total votes polled) votes against 3,44,729 votes (30.75 percent) casted for the runner up Preneet. SAD-BJP candidate Dhillon bagged 3,40,109 (30.34 percent).