Phagwara battle: Candidates bank on door-to-door campaign, nukkad meets
: An interesting poll battle is on the cards in this assembly constituency, reserved for Scheduled Castes, with the Congress party hoping to win from here for the first time since 2002. The BJP is trying its best to defend the seat that it has won for the past three elections.
Dalits are expected to play a significant part in the seat that had fallen vacant after two-time sitting MLA Som Parkash was elected as Hoshiarpur MP. He is now Union minister of state for commerce and industry.
With nine days to go to the D-day, Congress candidate Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, a former bureaucrat, and BJP candidate, Rajesh Bagha, former chairman of the Punjab SC Commission, are campaigning in villages during the day. In the evenings, both hold ‘nukkad’ (corner) meetings or go door-to-door in Phagwara .
For Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Santosh Kumar Gogi, the method so far, has also been to go door-to-door. Punjab leader of opposition Harpal Singh
Cheema has also been campaigning for Gogi. Cheema claimed that the Congress government had failed to deliver justice in Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan firing cases. “The BJP has introduced anti-trader policy, which has ruined small firms in Phagwara,” Cheema added.
Parkash, who has been campaigning for Bagha, said, “For us, two points are important in campaigning. The first is the Union government’s performance under PM Modi, and the second is the non-performance of the Congress government in Punjab for the past two-and-ahalf
years. We also refer to the historic decision to revoke article 370.”
Bagha told HT, “If elected, I will bring a medical institute to the constituency from the central government.”
The party, however, is beset with groupism with five councillors, owing allegiance to the Phagwara MC, joining the Congress. Three of these five are from the group of former Hoshiarpur MP and ex-minister, Vijay Sampla. Sampla and Parkash do not see eye to eye. Sampla had sought the ticket for son Sahil. His group is not actively campaigning for Bagha.
The Congress has reined in factionalism with former ministers Joginder Singh Mann and Balbir Raja Sodhi extending their support to Dhaliwal.
“I promise development in Phagwara. The BJP has been in power at both at the Centre for five years, the state for 10 years before we came in and even at the MC level, yet infrastructure is missing,” Dhailwal claimed.
Phagwara residents want better health facilities and relief from the painful traffic chaos that they endure everyday due to the ongoing construction work on the Jalandhar-New Delhi highway.
ROAD SHOWS, RALLIES OF BIGWIGS ON CARDS
The Congress has planned a rally of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, besides other state cabinet ministers, in the constituency.
The BJP plans a road show of Gurdaspur MP and actor Sunny Deol and rallies of Delhi state BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and SAD president, Sukhbir Singh Badal.