With the Punjab assembly elections coming closer, the rebellious voices are growing loud and clear. The phenomenon is not limited to just one political party, but almost all major political parties of the State are affected.
The ruling Congress is already struggling to get into poll mode with no end in sight to the intense infighting among its top leadership. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is facing massive protest from all quarters over the farm laws, is also facing rebellion from within and several senior leaders have already left the party, with many others in the queue.
SAD, which has forged an alliance with the BSP considering its stronghold amongst the Dalits in the State with highest population of the Scheduled Castes (SC), is also hit by rebellion as its party president Sukhbir Badal was on a spree to announce candidates — with some without any consultation within the party and not even with the candidates.
SAD’s THREE-TIME EX-MLA DECLARES TO CONTEST AS INDEPENDENT
SAD’s latest decision to swap two seats with its new coalition partner, BSP, has also failed to go down well with the leaders affected by the move. SAD’s three-time former MLA from Sham Chaurasi, Mohinder Kaur Josh has raised the banner of revolt against his party by declaring to contest the ensuing elections as “independent”, after her seat, along with Kapurthala, was given to BSP.
Contesting polls on a seat-sharing arrangement of 97 for SAD and 20 for BSP, the Akali Dal has swapped Sham Chaurasi (reserved) and Kapurthala assembly seats with BSP in lieu of Amritsar North and Sujanpur segments. SAD has already announced former BJP MLA and former Minister Anil Joshi as its candidate from Amritsar North, and another prominent BJP leader Raj Kumar Gupta from Sujanpur.
Saying that the “injustice” was meted out to her for the second time which was intolerable, Josh accused the Akali and the BJP of being hand in gloves with each other.
“When they announced the alliance and decided on seat sharing, my seat was in SAD’s share. The workers were so happy and started preparing for the polls. We were 100 percent sure of the win. But when the BJP leaders joined, and they were given tickets from BSP’s seats, they in return gave my seat to the BSP which is a total injustice to me,” said Josh.
She said: “This is the second time that such a thing has happened to me. My workers have asked me to contest polls as an independent and I will do it for sure.”
Josh, who is SAD’s vice-president and also core committee member of the Istri Akali Dal, had also turned rebel in 2002 when the SAD left her seat for Bahujan Samaj Morcha and she lost to the Congress candidate by around 500 votes.
CONG MLA DECLARES NOT TO CONTEST POLLS UNDER CAPT’s LEADERSHIP
Congress MLA from Amargarh Surjit Singh Dhiman on Sunday declared not to contest the ensuing 2022 assembly polls under the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s leadership. In fact, Dhiman has demanded that the state Congress president
Navjot Singh Sidhu should be the party’s face for Punjab polls, scheduled to be held early next year.
Dhiman, who had recently met the All India Congress Committee’s general secretary in-charge of Punjab party affairs Harish Rawat in Dehradun as a part of the delegation which raised the demand of Capt Amarinder Singh’s ouster, has insisted that the people want Sidhu to be declared as the party’s Chief Ministerial face for the upcoming polls.
“I always stood by what I say...I never went back on my words. Captain (Capt Amarinder) is our Chief Minister today. Navjot is our president. I want to say that I will not contest elections under Captain’s leadership,” said Dhiman.
Notably, Dhiman has all along been taking on his own party’s government, especially the Chief Minister, on several issues including drug menace and debt waiver, coupled with the non-fulfilment of pre-poll promises. He was also among key leaders who played a significant role in paving the way for Sidhu to hold the party reins in the state.