Farmers Movement Archive

Jitters in BJP, no candidates yet

Ludhiana: Given that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have declared their candidates for the Punjab assembly elections and the polling is just one month away, the BJP and allies are restless because they don’t know yet who will contest. On Wednesday, the BJP district unit was called up to Jalandhar for submitting its feedback about the probable candidates, so that those names could be sent to the screening committees. Up to 250 BJP office-bearers from Ludhiana, Khanna, and Jagraon went to Jalandhar, hoping for some decision in another week at least. From every constituency, the party has received at least three names. It will recommend names out of those to the national-level screening committee. Party insiders said the BJP was yet to decide about seat-sharing with Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Dhindsa). From the city, the PLC has suggested probable candidates from East, North, and South constituencies but the alliance has not finalised those candidatures yet. After the BJP’s central government repealed the farm laws, the party’s ticket aspirants had started contacting the voters even before their names had not yet been announced as candidates. In the Ludhiana central constituency, Gurdev Sharma Debi was seen distributing kites among children. They kites carried his picture and some messages along with Lohri wishes. Debi is a ticket hopeful from that seat. In the 2017 contest for this seat, Surinder Dawar of the Congress had defeated him. The ticket seekers also get restless seeing the other parties get a head start in campaigning. The BJP’s rivals have covered a lot of ground already and interacted with voters in many parts of the respective constituencies. Confronted, district BJP president Pushpinder Singhal said: "The BJP is a national party and we follow a system of ticket distribution. The party workers demand honest and clean candidates, a wish they have conveyed to the BJP leadership. We have worked at the ground level and out booth level workers are geared up for the contest. As soon as the candidates are named, they will start canvassing.”

The Times of India

2022-01-13

Ludhiana