It all started with the ruling Badal family. Manpreet Badal parted ways with uncle and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to launch his own political outfit, the People’s Party of Punjab. While the stated reason was the “over-dominance” of cousin and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, Manpreet’s father Gurdas Badal said the falling-out happened after an astrologer advised Sukhbir to throw Manpreet out if he wanted his dreams to become the chief minister to come true.
Last month, it was Manpreet who was at the receiving end of the same charges of nepotism when two key aides, Kushaldeep Dhillon and Jagbir Brar, crossed over to the Congress, accusing Manpreet’s brother-in-law Jaijit Singh Jojo and wife Veenu Badal of running the party like their fiefdom.
With elections round the corner, the rebellions have spilled over, cutting across party lines. Analysts say that one reason could be the presence of Manpreet’s
PPP, providing those looking for a ticket an option.
The threat held out by those denied tickets is believed to be responsible for the Congress not announcing its list of candidates yet. As other carrots are held out to placate the disgruntled, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh even claims a merit in this clamour for tickets.
Calling the rebellion in over 30 of the 117 seats as “party workers and leaders smelling blood”, Singh says: “It is not happening for the first time. I have seen this in every election. Such clamour for tickets only happens when a party is sure to return to power. Our surveys have given us 70-plus seats and each wants to be a part of the coming government.”
The rebels:
The Badals are calling it a “decisive coup”. Last week, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh’s younger brother Malvinder embraced the Akalis at a press conference after his candidature from Samana seat in Patiala was sacrificed for his nephew, Amarinder’s son Raninder Singh. Malvinder accused his sister-in-law, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, of playing the spoilsport.
Amarinder was quick to label his brother’s defection as unprincipled and said it was party president Sonia Gandhi who had picked Raninder for the seat for having given a tough fight to Sukhbir’s wife Harsimrat Badal in Bathinda during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
However, though the Badals have gone to town with Malvinder’s cross-over, the Patiala royal has not yet got the ticket he wanted from Samana.
The Akalis had already nominated a former NRI, Surjit Rakhra, from the post.
Sukhbir’s other important catch this defection season has been Congress dissident Sant Brar, who is now the Akali candidate from Gidderbaha. Manpreet has won the seat four times in a row previously, each time with a higher margin. Brar, who contested last polls as an Independent, had got 28,000 votes compared to the 34,000 for the Congress’s official candidate, Raghubir Singh. Brar’s candidature, however, may cut both ways in a triangular contest. The Congress candidate is Youth Congress’s Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. Other than Warring, Youth Congress faces in Fatehgarh Sahib and Majitha are facing opposition from old “loyalists”.
A big chunk of the rebels are family members of senior leaders denied tickets. While former chief minister Beant Singh’s son Tej Prakash opted out to make way for son Gurkirat Singh (from Khanna), Beant’s daughter Gurkanwal Kaur has described the Congress decision to field Manpreet’s cousin Jagbir Brar from Jalandhar Cantt as “rewarding turncoats”.
In the Akali Dal, the disgruntlement among members can largely be attributed to the rising clout of son Sukhbir and resistance to him by the old guard. At Dera Bassi, the daughter of former minister Captain Kawaljit Singh has raised a banner of revolt over “disrespect” to her father’s legacy in denial of seat to brother Jasjit Singh Bunny. She has announced that she would contest as an Independent against the Akali nominee, property baron N K Sharma. In Nawanshahr, Sukhbir’s decision to field Satinder Kariha, wife of MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha who passed away last year, is being opposed.
Sirhind MLA Didar Bhatti joined the PPP after being denied a SAD ticket and is now its candidate from neighbouring Fatehgarh Sahib seat.
In Ropar, a former education minister of the Akalis has joined the PPP too. The party had to also expel one of its candidates, Balwinder Singh Bains, finalised from Ludhiana south, after his brother Simarjit Singh Bains declared himself an Independent candidate against the party nominee, minister Hira Singh Gabria, from Ludhiana’s Atam Nagar constituency.
In Dera Bassi, the Congress is facing rebellion. Deepinder Dhillon, a close aide of Preneet Kaur, has decided to contest as an Independent against the party nominee from the seat, ex-minister Jasjit Randhawa, who incidentally is an Amarinder loyalist.
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