Farmers Movement Archive

Punjab polls: Ferozepur City all set for a four-cornered contest

For the first time, a close four-cornered contest is likely in the Ferozepur City assembly constituency which has been a traditional bastion of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) never won from here.Four-time legislator Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi is set to pose a challenge to old Congress colleague and incumbent Parminder Singh Pinki from the segment located along the India-Pakistan border. The Aam Aadmi Party’s Ranbir Singh Bhullar, who is emerging as a formidable challenger, is harping on the popularity of the party’s chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann. Sodhi, who represented Guruharsahai for the last four consecutive terms as a Congress candidate, switched over to the BJP in December.In the public meetings, Bhullar is trying to consolidate the support of the state government employees who have been protesting against the Congress government besides banking on anti-incumbency against Pinki. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP, won from here on five occasions since the first elections in 1951 and the Janata Party retained the seat in 1977. The Congress captured the seat on 9 occasions in the last 71 years.The SAD has fielded its district unit president Rohit Vohra Montu from the seat.In the 2017 elections, Pinki was polled an impressive 54% votes and the BJP candidate secured 30%. The AAP nominee had secured 13% of the total votes polled last time.After moving to the urban segment of the border city, Sodhi is banking solely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political charisma.In his public address, he has been raising the issue of the cancellation of Modi’s rally in Ferozepur on January 5 when the PM’s security was breached. Now, he hopes to get sympathy votes over the fiasco that hogged national headlines. “Besides laying foundation stones of a series of development projects, the PM was expected to announce Punjab-centric welfare initiatives. The Congress government conspired to sabotage the Ferozepur event and people’s anger will be reflected in votes for the BJP,” says Sodhi who was a key Sikh face to join the saffron party in December last year after Modi announced to withdraw the 3 contentious farm laws.Political observers say the former minister opted for a new segment as the BJP’s new face may not consolidate agrarian support in the rural constituency like Guruharsahai.Since he joined the BJP, Sodhi, a Sikh Khatri, was hinting at contesting from Ferozepur City which has over 40% Hindu voters.On the other hand, Pinki is banking upon the development projects such as laying of underground drinking water, sewage, beautification of the city and installation of LED screens in parks.

Hindustan Times

24-01-2022

Chandigarh