Bajwa offers to quit RS for ex-pm, contest Gurdaspur
CHANDIGARH: Amid intense jockeying for tickets for Lok Sabha polls in the ruling Congress, rival camps want former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to represent Punjab, but in different Houses of the Parliament.
According to highly-placed sources in the Congress, Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa has offered to give up his seat to make way for the former PM. Striking a quid-pro-quo, Bajwa is learnt to have asked the high command for a ticket from his home turf Gurdaspur, which is now represented by his bete noire Sunil Jakhar, the state Congress chief. The Gurdaspur seat had fallen vacant after the death of actor Vinod Khanna of the BJP in 2017 and Jakhar won it in a byboll by a record margin.
Manmohan’s term in the Rajya Sabha is ending on June 14 this year. The term of another Congress Rajya Sabha MP, Santiuse Kujur, who was elected along with Singh from Assam will also expire with him. However, with BJP winning the state, the Congress does not have enough MLAS to get either of them re-elected from the state. The terms of three other Congress Rajya Sabha MPS from Assam are ending later — Sanjay Singh and Bhubaneshwar Kalita in 2020, and Bipin Bora in 2022.
When contacted, Bajwa refused to deny or confirm whether he had made the offer to the high command. The former Gurdaspur MP had last month said he would stake a claim to the seat calling it “karambhoomi” of his family.
He was earlier lobbying for ticket to his wife Charanjit Kaur but pitched himself after Congress president Rahul Gandhi ruled out tickets to kin of sitting MPS and MLAS.
The ripple effect of Bajwa’s offer is being felt in neighbouring Amritsar seat. A rival camp wants Manmohan to be fielded from the Holy City. In a meeting with Jakhar and general secretary in-charge of Punjab Asha Kumari early this month, minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and MLAS from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat had proposed the name of the former PM.
The seat was won by firsttimer Gurjit Aujla in a bypoll after Amarinder Singh became CM in March 2017. In one of the big fights in the state, Amarinder had defeated BJP’S Arun Jaitley in 2014 LS elections. Even minister OP Soni, sources add, is not batting for Aujla, who, MLAS say, has not been able to take them along. But a senior Congress leader said Manmohan is not keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
Detractors of Jakhar are questioning why should he not move back to Ferozepur if the party is hopeful of winning all seats under its ‘Mission 13’ campaign.
There are also speculations that all Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs may be asked not to contest but campaign for the party.
Jakhar said he would convey the feelings of Congress leaders to the high command. “It is the former PM to decide if he wants to contest from Amritsar or not. As for Gurdaspur, I have already declared it to be my one and only choice,” Jakhar said.