‘One family, 1 ticket’ rule to stay as Cong gears up for LS poll
The Congress will stick to the “one family, one ticket” rule for the Lok Sabha elections next year, Punjab party chief Sunil Jakhar said on Sunday as the party kicked off process for the polls.
The party had opted for one ticket from a family in the 2017 state elections which returned it to power after 10 years. In a meeting presided by Congress general secretary and in-charge of Punjab affairs Asha Kumari and Jakhar, consultations were held with MLAs, candidates who lost 2017 state polls as well as presidents of district units, women wing, youth wing and other frontal organisations on criteria, suggestions and candidates for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Changing her stance, Asha Kumari, who had earlier ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said the decision to tie-up with any party will be taken by the Congress high command.
Dubbing the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance a compulsion for both, she said the Akalis will be the main opponent of the Congress in the 2019 parliamentary elections.
Jakhar said the saffron party is “nervous” and may go for early polls. “The situation prevailing in the country hints at early polls. We held the meeting to seek views from partymen on who should be our candidates. Winnability will be the main criteria and ‘one family, one ticket’ rule will apply in parliamentary polls too,” he said.
Though earlier Jakhar too had said the Congress does not need to ally with AAP for next year’s polls, he said it is a decision which will be taken by party president Rahul Gandhi.
Taking a dig at the AAP, he said ousted leader of opposition Sukhpal Khaira should have resigned the day party’s national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had tendered an apology to Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia for levelling drug allegations against him.
“Now, Khaira is saying that Kejriwal has done what suits the Congress and Akalis. Why did he not resign when AAP Punjab chief Bhagwant Mann and co-president Aman Arora had put in their papers in protest against Kejriwal’s unconditional apology? He just went and met Kejriwal then and now he is trying to take a high moral ground,” Jakhar added.
‘PARTY WILL FORM NEXT GOVT AT CENTRE’
State Congress president Sunil Jakhar claimed that the Congress will form government at the Centre in 2019.
“After assuming office at the Centre, the Congress will implement welfare schemes for unorganised section of workers to uplift their socio-economic status in the society,” he said, speaking at a function in the Congress Bhawan, where Mohan Singh, the new chairman of Punjab Unit of Unorganized workers’ Congress, too charge of his office.
National chairman of the unorganised workers Congress, Arvind Singh and Punjab in-charge Mehboob Bhatt were also present.