Cong hints at BJP hand in AAP bypoll victory

A day after losing three of the four Assembly seats in the bypoll, the Punjab Congress leadership has hinted at BJP’s hand in AAP’s win.

Analysing the poll results, party leaders alleged with the BJP not being able to garner support despite putting up former Akali leaders, top Akali leaders issued instructions for en masse shifting of their voters to AAP at the behest of the top BJP leadership.

First, it kept the SAD, rebel Akalis and radicals out of the bypoll and then, the votes were polled for AAP. “It is just a matter of time that the understanding between Akalis and BJP becomes public,” said Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa.

Bajwa said that the Congress increased its vote share in Gidderbaha, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak and more or less retained its voter base. He added, “The same section of voters had opted for the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha poll. The BJP is supporting AAP due to tactical understanding between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CM Bhagwant Mann in backdrop of his power tussle with Arvind Kejriwal.”

Quoting data, Congress leaders said barring the reserved Chabbewal segment where the party vote share fell to 27 per cent from 41 per cent in the 2022 Assembly poll, the vote share in Gidderbaha (36.3 per cent), Barnala (28.2 per cent) and Dera Baba Nanak (43.1 per cent) has increased.

Contradicting the Congress claim, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said no instruction had been issued by the party and it was left to the party workers to decide the best option as per their local factors. Otherwise, the Akali voter never opts for the Congress and the BJP has again been rejected by Punjabis.

Not agreeing with the Congress contention, AAP leaders claim that the recent panchayat elections where a number of sarpanches and panches won with their support and AAP’s top leadership strategising on specific segments did the trick for AAP.