LS polls: Akali Dal to field former assembly speaker Atwal from Jalandhar
CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is all set to field former Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal from the Jalandhar constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.
Atwal (81), who also remained the Lok Sabha deputy speaker from 2004 to 2009, is a three-time MLA and two-time MP.
In the absence of a formidable face from Jalandhar, the party has made its mind to go with an old war horse and a staunch Badal loyalist.
Though a formal announcement from the party high command about his candidature is yet to be made, Atwal has started holding political meetings in the segment.
“I have started meeting the party workers in Jalandhar. An announcement by the party will follow soon,” Atwal said.
The decision came after the party failed to swap the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur seats with its coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The saffron party has already given a go-ahead for sitting MP Vijay Sampla, a Union minister, from the seat. But in a recently held talks between BJP national president Amit Shah and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, the possibility for a swap was ruled out.
Also, Sampla had rejected an offer by Sukhbir in a coordination committee meeting of the two coalition partners. Sukhbir had offered Sampla to contest
THE DECISION CAME AFTER THE PARTY FAILED TO SWAP THE JALANDHAR AND HOSHIARPUR SEATS WITH THE BJP
from Jalandhar, the latter’s hometown, and vacate Hoshiarpur for the Akali Dal.
During the previous parliamentary polls in 2014, SAD had fielded Pawan Kumar Tinu (Adampur MLA) from Jalandhar but he lost to Congress’ Santokh Singh Chaudhary by a margin of 71,000 votes.
Earlier, Atwal was trying to get party ticket either for himself or his son Inderiqbal Singh from the Fatehgarh Sahib segment.
Now, SAD is likely to choose between Justice (retd) Nirmal Singh, a former MLA, and PPSC member Bikramjit Singh Khalsa from the Fatehgarh Sahib seat.