Amarinder challenges CM Badal from Lambi
thus ushering in a total change in the semantics of the capital’s politics.
In this context, Amarinder’s desire to lock horns with Parkash Singh Badal, the longest serving Chief Minister of the state and one of the senior most politicians in the country, could propel him and his party on the centre stage. It could also impact the politics within his own party and set the stage for Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is expected to join the Congress to contest against Sukhbir Singh Badal from the Jalalabad constituency. This would allow the Congress to dominate the state’s political discourse, which, at present, is being navigated by the AAP campaign against drugs, corruption and misgovernance in Punjab.
In addition to Lambi, Amarinder Singh would also contest from his traditional Patiala Urban seat and face former Army Chief, General J.J. Singh, who is the Akali nominee from the constituency. In each of the previous elections, he has won progressively with a greater margin. The reason for him of pitting himself against the formidable Badal was that if the Akalis want to put up big names against Congress nominees, he was willing to pay them back in their own currency by volunteering to vanquish the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Yogendra Yadav, president of Swaraj India, has asked Arvind Kejriwal to quit as Delhi’s Chief Minister in order to concentrate on Punjab. He should not use Delhi as his stepney, he said. Although Kejriwal has refused to comment on the speculation regarding his desire of shifting to Punjab in the event of the Aam Aadmi Party winning the Assembly elections, his party sources said that it was virtually certain that Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia would succeed him as the CM once he moves to Chandigarh. The AAP is running an aggressive campaign in Punjab and has made inroads into many rural constituencies. The Congress and the Akalis have been lashing out at Kejriwal for keeping his ambitions secret by not openly accepting that he was the party’s nominee for the Chief Ministership. The ploy is that Kejriwal’s projection would pit him against the powerful Jat Sikh community, which has been dominating the state’s politics since its reorganisation in 1966. All Chief Ministers after that date, with the sole exception of Giani Zail Singh (who was a Ramgarhia—the carpenter community), have been Jat Sikhs. Kejriwal is a Bania with roots in Haryana and his rivals want him to be seen in this manner by the Punjab electorate.