In Dera Baba Nanak segment, it’s AAP top brass vs Sukhjinder Randhawa
An intense battle of words and wits is being played out between a Chief Minister, former CM and several Cabinet ministers on the one hand and a sitting MP, who is not even contesting, on the other hand in the Dera Baba Nanak seat.
Senior AAP leaders and MLAs confirm that they have been told by their leadership “to disengage Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa from campaigning for his wife and Congress candidate Jatinder Kaur”.
“We will win half the battle if we manage to put him on the backfoot for the next few days,” said a ruling party MLA.
AAP national convener and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, several Cabinet ministers and MLAs have already targeted Randhawa in recent days. The Congress has not invited any VIP for its campaign.
The MP, however, remains unfazed. “AAP politicians are walking like cats on a hot tin roof, so terrified they are. This is despite the fact I am not even a candidate.”
Notwithstanding orders to marginalise him, he is not the one to fall down easily. People close to the four-time legislator claim “he knows the tricks of the trade and is a battle-hardened veteran of many political battles”.
“They are subjecting me to a lot of heat. I have concrete information that the state government will play some dirty tricks on me through the local administration. Nevertheless, I am ready,” said Randhawa.
The MP has been extremely vocal in alleging that AAP candidate Gurdeep Singh Randhawa has unleashed gangsters on him. “This is being done with the idea to instil a fear in me, my wife and my supporters,” he says.
Despite all anti-gangster rhetoric, the MP is not taking their threats lightly. The other day he himself drove to the Kotli Surat Malhi police station to file a complaint against Batala DSP Jasbir Singh. Subsequently, the officer was suspended by the EC. He says he has information that AAP leaders have asked gangsters to disrupt his wife’s campaign.
Not many know that Gurdeep was a one-time loyalist of the Randhawa family. He fell out during the panchayat elections held some years ago.
