Congress to field at least two Hindu faces but dilemma remains: Who other than Jakhar?
PARTY WORRIED IF ITS OVERLY RADICAL PITCH AFTER DECISIVE MANDATE FROM HINDUS MAY HAVE ESTRANGED THE COMMUNITY
CHANDIGARH: Back to power in Punjab after its traditional votebank of Hindus and Scheduled Castes (SCS) returned to its fold, the Congress is in a dilemma on who to field and from where in the nine out of 13 general parliamentary constituencies in the state.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the party had fielded three Hindus — Ambika Soni from Anandpur Sahib, Sunil Jakhar from Ferozepur and Vijay Inder Singla from Sangrur. All three had lost in three-way split of votes with the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
But it got a decisive mandate in 2017 state polls by fielding higher number of Hindu candidates in urban seats and won most of these seats dominated by the community, even the ones contested by Jat Sikhs.
The decade-long anti-incumbency against the Akali DAL-BJP alliance and AAP flirting with Sikh radicals had consolidated Hindu and SC votes in favour of the Congress.
The party is keen to field at least two Hindus, if not three, in May 19 elections. While the candidature of Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar seems certain from Gurdaspur, the Congress has yet to zero in other faces and seats they can be fielded from. The likely seats are once again Ferozepur, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur.
From the Sangrur constituency, Singla, now public works department (PWD) minister, remains a likely option but he is not keen to contest and is learnt to have proposed the name of his wife.
The Congress’ move to field a Hindu face from the Ferozepur or Bathinda constituencies parliamentary will depend on Akali Dal’s move to shift its sitting MP, Union minister Harsimrat Badal, to Ferozepur from Bathinda, the epicentre of antisacrilege protests against the Badal family.
From Ferozepur, the name of former Punjab Youth Congress leader Raminder Awla is in the reckoning but Harsimrat’s foray could change the scenario.
Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya is already flexing his political muscle after joining the Congress by launching his campaign. He hails from the Rai Sikh community, which holds sway over the seat.
If not these three seats, the Congress may have to turn to Anandpur Sahib, from where former minister and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari and Soni’s son, Anoop, are among the probables. Jakhar said that as per directions of party president Rahul Gandhi, efforts should be made to give due representation to every section of society.
The party’s worry is that Hindus are not too happy with the radical tinge to Congress politics over sacrilege issue since last year and their disenchantment with BJP over demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) has given way to nationalistic fervour. The saffron party is pitching itself on nationalism, not Hindutva, after retaliatory airstrikes at Balakot in Pakistan.
How important community votes are to the party can be gauged from their domination over positions in government. The party first appointed Brahm Mohindra as minister, Rana KP Singh as speaker and Jakhar as state party chief to woo Hindus.
In cabinet expansion in April last year, it brought in four more Hindu faces – Singla (PWD), Bharat Bhushan Ashu (civil supplies), Sunder Sham Arora and OP Soni (school education) covering all three regions of Malwa, Doaba and Majha areas.