Sukhbir may take up seat-swapping issue with Amit Shah

We are better placed in Hoshiarpur because there are six rural assembly constituencies and in Jalandhar there three rural assembly seats. DALJIT SINGH CHEEMA, SAD leader

CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is keen on swapping Jalandhar parliamentary seat with its alliance partner BJP in lieu of Hoshiarpur seat that the latter represents. But BJP seems not very keen on the arrangement, especially when Union minister of state Vijay Sampla, the sitting Hoshiarpur MP, has already opened his election office in the constituency.

Sources said Sukhbir is expected to take up the matter with BJP chief Amit Shah before the latter arrives in Amritsar on February 24. Both seats are reserved for candidates from Scheduled Castes.

Last month, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on his visit to Amritsar had said talks were on with the BJP over swapping Amritsar and Hoshiarpur with Ludhiana and Jalandhar parliamentary seats. A year ago, Sampla was also keen on changing the constituency but party insiders say he is now okay with the segment he represents.

State BJP president Shwait Malik said taking a decision on the issue was the prerogative of national president Amit Shah. He said the matter was never discussed in the Saturday’s coordination committee meeting between the BJP and the SAD leaders.

In the meeting, SAD president had suggested Sampla to contest from Jalandhar, saying both parties will have better prospects if the two seats are swapped.

“We are strong in Hoshiarpur having formidable faces such as Mohinder Kaur Josh, Des Raj Dhugga and Sohan Singh Thandal,” said SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema. Though he refused to accept that SAD lacked a strong candidate from Jalandhar.

“We are better placed in Hoshiarpur because there are six rural assembly constituencies and in Jalandhar there three rural assembly seats,” Cheema said. An Akali leader on anonymity said the seat-swapping issue will be taken up with the BJP’S central leadership.

Speaking about the meeting, Malik said it was decided to run a joint campaign and focus on highlighting the work done during the five years of Narendra Modi government. ANANDPUR SAHIB: In the last five Lok Sabha elections, voters of the Anandpur Sahib constituency have elected the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidates alternately, not giving mandate to the same party for two consecutive terms.

The segment’s proximity to the state capital Chandigarh makes it the most sought-after general category seat if the number of applications the ruling Congress has received so far is of any indication.

Also, since the political graph of both the Akalis and the principal opposition party in the state, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is down, the Congress is looking at the segment as a safe bet.

But it might turn into a multicornered contest with SAD (Taksali), the breakaway Akali faction, fielding former assembly deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh, who has jumped both Congress and Akali ships. The Bargari Insaaf Morcha of Sikh radicals too has fielded Bikramjit Singh Sodhi from the seat to cash in on the strong community sentiment in Anandpur Sahib, which is home to one of five Takhts of Sikhism.

CONG’S DILEMMA

Too many ticket aspirants have left the ruling Congress weary, and wary. While party president Rahul Gandhi’s mantra of not fielding Rajya Sabha members or their kin can hit prospects of senior leader Ambika Soni, who lost to SAD’S Prem Singh Chandumajra in 2014, she too is not too keen to contest. But Soni will have the final say on who steps

into her shoes, if not her son Anoop, a businessman, who she is keen on passing on the baton to.

While Soni is close to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a Rahul protege and party’s national spokesman, Jaiveer Shergill, has also applied for the ticket. “I belong to Anandpur Sahib and have worked in the party at various levels,” Jaiveer says. But if the party opts for a Hindu face, former MP Manish Tewari, who had shied away from contesting from his home seat Ludhiana in 2014, may also be accommodated here.

Chandumajra remains ticket frontrunner for from SAD. He has been busy visiting every nook

and corner of the constituency for last five months. The name of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal’s protege, Daljit Cheema, a former minister, is also doing the rounds. Cheema may contest in case Chandumajra is shifted to another seat. But Chandumajra rules out the possibility.

“I have taken up issues pertaining to Punjab in the Lok Sabha and was twice adjudged as the best MP,” he says.

AAP has announced Narinder Singh Shergill, a progressive farmer, as its candidate. “I have been working in the segment for 10 years. I am reaching out personally to each and every voter,” says Narinder Shergill.