CHANDIGARH: After forging ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Akali Dal is bracing for a showdown with its erstwhile ally, which has fielded star players, wearing the party’s symbol ‘Takdi’ or the scale Gurdaspur for the first time since 1996. – Ready to contest for Lok Sabha seats. The power to secure seats over and over again.
The Shiromani Akali Dal joined forces with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1996. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement in Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party used to contest elections from Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur.
SAD withdrew from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 2020 over the now repealed farm laws.
SAD withdrew from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 2020 over the now repealed farm laws.
The SAD, led by Sukhbir Singh Badal, has bet on the resignation of the party’s senior vice-president and veteran leader Daljit Singh Cheema.
“SAD workers are enthusiastic about the party fielding its own candidate from Gurdaspur and are happy to see the party symbol ‘Takdi’. There is an emotional attachment to this symbol,” Cheema said. P.T.I.
According to MBBS doctor Cheema, the last time SAD contested from Gurdaspur was in the 1996 general elections, when party candidate Jagdish Singh Walia came second.
Ignoring the Bharatiya Janata Party’s accusations that she is an “outsider”, Cheema said she was born in Mali Bhutian village in Sri Hargobindpur and studied at the village school. He said he contested his first election from Gurdaspur’s Sri Hargobindpur Assembly seat in 2002.
The BJP has managed to retain its seat by fielding Bollywood stars like Vinod Khanna and Sunny Deol from the seat.
This time, however, local leader and former MLA Dinesh Singh Babu was nominated as the candidate, a move Cheema, 62, attributed to the “negativity” the Bharatiya Janata Party was facing. ing.
The BJP announced on March 26 that it would hold a solo election in Punjab. The party has nominated Babu in its list of eight candidates for the March 30 parliamentary polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is facing “negative views” in constituencies where it has fielded film actors. Cheema said the party had been relying on film actors as it had “not been able” to find suitable candidates locally.
“The BJP had brought in candidates from outside and it was the SAD that ensured their victory,” he said, referring to the former alliance with the BJP.
The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat was a Congress stronghold until the Bharatiya Janata Party plucked out Bollywood star Khanna from the constituency in 1998 to field it.
Khanna defeated five-time Congress MP Sukhbanth Kaur Bhinder and won again in 1999, 2004 and 2014. Khanna lost his seat to Congress candidate Partap Singh Bajwa in 2009.
Following Khanna’s death in 2017, Sunil Jakhar of the Congress was elected in the 2017 by-poll. In the 2019 Indian Parliament polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party won the seat with Deol as its candidate.
Cheema taunted Deol over his “absence” from the constituency and said the actor-turned-politician faced a case of “gumshuda” or missing posters in the constituency.
Regarding Babu’s candidacy, Cheema said the Bharatiya Janata Party was “forced” to field Babu because people in the constituency were fed up with the film actor’s amakudari.
“Babu (when he was an MLA) never spoke in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. He did not utter a single word. What will such people do in Parliament?” said a former Akali government official. asked Cheema, who was the education minister.
During his election campaign, Babu has faced the wrath of farmers protesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government did not allow the agitators to enter Delhi, especially for failing to provide legal guarantees to the MSP.
On Saturday, a group of farmers hoisted black flags at Babu while campaigning in Gurdaspur. He also faced the wrath of farmers in Batala on April 21.
Regarding the Kartarpur Corridor, Cheema said a permit system should be introduced by scrapping the passport requirement so that more people can offer prayers at historic gurdwaras in Pakistan.
The corridor connects Pakistan’s Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district.
Cheema proposed a special package for border areas to boost industrialization and also highlighted financial incentives for industries in Gurdaspur and Pathankot.
From the Gurdaspur seat, AAP has fielded Batala MLA Amansher Singh Kalsi while the Congress is yet to name a candidate.
Voting for 13 Assembly seats in Punjab will be held on June 1.
(issued April 28, 2024, 07:17 IST)
