Amritsar East hottest seat in Punjab; Sidhu dares Majithia

The Amritsar East constituency in the Punjab Assembly has become quite interesting. The contest here is between two giants — one from the Congress and the other from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). State Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu filed his nomination papers here on Saturday 29 January. The candidate on the other side is SAD’s senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia. The confrontation between the two big rivals has made this seat the hottest in the state. Bhagwant Mann, the chief ministerial (CM) face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), also filed his nomination papers from Dhuri on Saturday.

Talking to reporters after filing his nomination papers, Sidhu launched an attack on Majithia. Sidhu said, "If you (Majithia) have so much guts, and have faith in people then leave Majitha and fight from one seat here. Fight! Do you have the guts?”

The state Congress chief said, “I have been in politics for 17 years. Everyone knows about my journey.” Said the Congress leader who had joined the party after quitting the BJP, “I have never sold my integrity, but he has sold drugs in the state and destroyed the youth of Punjab.”

Time was when Sidhu praised Majithia lavishly, calling him his younger brother. But the Akalis believe Sidhu had a big role in the drugs case filed against Majithia. In an interview given to an English daily, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Sidhu would have to pay for this.

If Amritsar is Sidhu’s familiar place, it is not new for Majithia either. Satyajit Singh Majithia, the father of Bikram, is the Chairman of the Governing Council of the reputed Khalsa College here and also the Chancellor of the Khalsa University. This happens to be a bonding factor between the people of Amritsar and the Majithia family. Besides, the Akalis ruled Punjab along with the BJP for 10 years, a reason why even BJP leaders are close to Majithia. It is believed that Majithia may get the support of some BJP leaders.

Bhagwant Mann says he will win with the highest margin

Bhagwant Mann, who had gone to the Dhuri SDM’s office along with his mother to file his nomination papers, told the reporters that Dhuri had an opportunity to create history. He claimed that people would elect him with the highest margin. Mann has contested the Assembly election twice earlier. In 2012, he fought the election from the Lehragaga constituency on the ticket of Manpreet Singh Badal’s Punjab Peoples Party (PPP). Subsequently, in 2017, he stood against Sukhbir Singh Badal in Jalalabad on a ticket from the AAP. He lost on both these occasions. However, he later became an MP on a ticket from AAP.

Channi says Kejriwal not ‘Aam’ but a high-profile leader

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has targeted Arvind Kejriwal, the National Convener of AAP and Delhi Chief Minister. He said, “Kejriwal is misleading the people of Punjab by calling himself Aam aadmi (common man). The truth is that he is a high-profile leader. You may find this out if you go to Delhi.” He also said that Kejriwal had this habit of making severe allegations against his opponents and then apologizing. “He has made objectionable remarks even against me, but it is possible that he would apologize to me once the elections are over.” He claimed that Congress was more likely to win in the state, which is why politicians were making a beeline for a Congress ticket.

Five Congress MPs called to Delhi

Meanwhile, the Congress has taken seriously the absence of five of its MPs from Amritsar and Jalandhar when Rahul Gandhi launched the election campaign. On that day KC Venugopal, the party general secretary, had tried to explain that it was not a case of boycotting Rahul Gandhi’s programme. Jasbir Singh Gill, one of the MPs who played truant on the occasion, also tweeted that he had not gone to the programme as it was for MLA candidates. So, there was nothing like a boycott in this. However, sources now say that the high command has called to Delhi, besides Gill, the four other MPs who were not part of the programme, viz. Manish Tiwari, Ravneet Singh, Parneet Kaur and Mohammad Sadiq.