Cong campaign is a lesson in how not to win elections

The Congress’s campaign in Punjab is a lesson in how not to win elections. Its chief ministerial face, Charanjit Singh Channi, appears to be a general without foot soldiers, his peers putting spokes rather than lending shoulders to the party wheel.

A majority of the Congress’s 11 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from the state had opposed Navjot Sidhu’s elevation as the party’s state unit chief. Most of them are confined now to their constituencies, sulking or spilling beans on the manner in which the assembly candidatures were decided. The most damning have been the charges Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Dullo levelled against the chief minister and the central leadership’s pointsperson, Harish Chaudhary. His claim is that party workers were ignored to promote those linked to the liquor mafia.

A former state unit chief, Dullo, like Channi, comes from the scheduled caste community. His statement and another erstwhile state president, Sunil Jakhar’s publicly articulated angst against being discriminated for being a Hindu have dented the party’s outreach to the Dalit and Hindu electorate.

Such is the level of discord that several other parliamentarians have placed their families above the party: Khadoor Sahib MP Jasbir Gill (upset over denial of ticket to his son) has tactically allied with the Shiromani Akali Dal though his brother who recently turned an Akali. Likewise, Patiala’s Praneet Kaur is openly seeking support in Patiala city for her husband and former chief minister Amarinder Singh. The latter is in the fray as a BJP ally.

No different is the story of Santokh Singh Chaudhary and Amar Singh, Lok Sabha members from the reserved Jalandhar and Fetehgarh Sahib seats. They’re active but with greater focus on the prospects of their children fighting on Congress tickets from Phillaur and Raikot. Another former state party president, Pratap Singh Bajwa, is a candidate from Gurdaspur’s Qadian.

The only one shining in comparison is Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tiwari. “The Congress gave me the ticket but local leaders got me elected. I’m doing my duty to ensure they return to the vidhan sabha,” he said, unwilling to comment on the party not drafting him to campaign elsewhere.

The most conspicuous has been the absence of Ambika Soni, who sits in the Upper House and is listed among the Congress’s star campaigners. She’s dissuaded perhaps by the umbrage Jakhar took to her “Punjab’s CM should be a Sikh, not a Hindu” remark that scuttled his elevation after Amarinder Singh’s removal.

The few who’re active on the ground are Ludhiana’s Ravneet Bittu, recently appointed chairman of the Congress election management committee, Amritsar’s GS Aujla and Faridkot’s Mohammad Sadique. But their token attempts haven’t created the kind of multiplier effect the party direly needs to rev up its poll machine.

In contrast, the Aam Aadmi Party and the SAD are going the whole hog. Arvind Kejriwal is a frequent flyer to Punjab, where his local mascot, Bhagwant Mann, has virtual and in-person omnipresence. Clips from his speeches and interviews are viral across Punjab.

The Akali push meanwhile is led by the Badal trinity: patriarch Parkash Singh and his son Sukhbir and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal, who are MPs from Ferozepur and Bathinda. The SAD cadre are galvanized, the party having on-board several influential jathedhars, lateral entrants and the once-alienated leaders.

At the Congress station, there are more departures than arrivals. Such is the complacency that an MP who played down the AAP’s popularity ended up telling that his son’s main rival on a Malwa seat was Kejriwal’s party!

CONGRESS’S CHIEF MINISTERIAL FACE CHARANJIT SINGH CHANNI APPEARS TO BE A GENERAL WITHOUT FOOT SOLDIERS