In Dera Baba Nanak, candidates draw up plans for constituency

Tomorrow is the day of reckoning for the 11 candidates for the Dera Baba Nanak Assembly seat. Three of them, who are considered to be the main candidates, spent time at their respective residences meeting people and drawing up plans for the future.

Eight of the 11 candidates admit that they stand no chance of making a mark. The remaining three, also called the “principal actors”, acknowledged that they were a bit nervous, but “nevertheless ready for whatever destiny had in store for them”.

AAP candidate Gurdeep Singh met villagers and assessed his chances of winning. “Even if 50% of the SAD sympathisers have cast their vote in my favour, I am a clear winner,” he said.

He denied that he had taken the help of gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, as was being alleged by MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the husband of the Congress candidate Jatinder Kaur. “I have a secure vote bank and there is no need for me to get entangled in the gangster business. Once I get elected, just see how I change the landscape of Dera Baba Nanak. It will become a drug-free area and youth will be given employment in projects that I will bring to my constituency,” he said.

Ever since the last vote was cast, Jatinder Kaur, the Congress nominee, has remained at her native village of Dharowali. She said if she became an MLA, the first thing she would do was to revive the Guru Nanak Sugarcane Research and Development Centre, which had been lying dysfunctional for the past several years. “When my husband was the Cooperation minister, he had set up the centre on 100 acres of panchayat land in Kalanaur. However, for some inexplicable reason, the project was given a quiet burial when AAP came to power. Later, its assets and manpower were transferred to the PAU, Ludhiana. Once it is revived, it can be a boon for sugarcane farmers, not only of Gurdaspur but of the entire Majha region,” she said.

“Kalanaur township has nearly 1,600 acres of Panchayat land lying vacant, making it one of the richest Panchayats in the state. There is so much potential in Dera Baba Nanak,” she added.

She said she would also focus on setting up cottage industries in villages located in the belt adjoining the International Border. “Such entities can provide self-employment to the downtrodden,” she said.

Like his peers, BJP nominee Ravi Karan Kahlon, too, met a steady stream of visitors that remained present throughout the day at his native village of Dadujodh. “My first job will be to check drug smuggling. I feel sad when I think about how drones and drugs have devastated Dera Baba Nanak and its adjoining areas. A high percentage of our youth are hooked to heroin. We are already staring down the barrel and something must be done sooner rather than later to prevent further damage,” he said.