New Delhi: The Congress strategists are keeping an eye on a possible tie-up between old allies BJP and Akali Dal in Punjab before finalising party nominees for the coming Lok Sabha polls. In the 2019 national polls, the Congress had won eight out of the 13 parliamentary seats in the northern state and hoped to improve its score in 2024.
Though the Congress has a pre-poll pact with the AAP in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat, the grand old party and Arvind Kejriwal’s outfit are pitted against each other in Punjab. Given there are four parties in Punjab this time, the ruling AAP, main opposition Congress, Akali Dal and BJP, the grand old party is claiming that the main fight is between Congress and AAP.
“We are keeping a watch on whether the BJP and the Akali Dal would come together or not. I think both the BJP and the Akali Dal are on a weak wicket this time and may be compelled to come together. The Akali Dal is no more its usual self in Punjab while the BJP never really had a major presence in the state,” AICC secretary in-charge of Punjab Chetan Chauhan told ETV Bharat.
The Akali Dal had been an old ally of the BJP in the northern state, but parted ways with the saffron party in September 2020 to protest the three controversial farm laws enacted by the Modi government. The BJP had been a marginal player in Punjab and used to piggyback on regional strong player Akali Dal, but the saffron party became politically ambitious since then and wanted to expand its base there.
“Now, if the Akali Dal opts to join hands with the BJP it will risk upsetting its traditional rural support base. If that happens, we have to tweak our strategy accordingly. We are preparing for all the 13 parliamentary seats in Punjab,” said Chauhan.
According to Congress insiders, the party managers are in the process of shortlisting names of potential candidates which will then be sent to the Central Election Committee for final approval. Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi may contest from Jalandhar, state unit chief Amarinder Raja Warring may contest from Bathinda, former state unit chief Navjot Sidhu may contest from Patiala while sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittoo may be repeated from Ludhiana, among others.
Interestingly, the party is not in the mood to repeat Patiala sitting MP Preneet Kaur, the wife of former chief minister Amarinder Singh, who was forced to resign in 2021. Later, Amarinder Singh floated his outfit Punjab Lok Congress the same year and merged it with the BJP in 2022. Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, too, had left the grand old party a few months later the same year and is at present the Punjab BJP chief.
Among the other probable candidates from the Congress are CLP leader Partap Bajwa from Gurdaspur, Gurjit Aujla from Amritsar, Rana Gurjit Singh from Khadur Sahib, Rajkumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur, Angad Saini from Anandpur Sahib, but the main focus is on UT Chandigarh, which has been a bone of contention between two former union ministers Pawan Bansal and Manish Tewari, said party insiders. The AAP has left the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat for Congress as part of the INDIA alliance.
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