Amrinder Raja Warring Congress’s trump card for Ludhiana

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, April 29

The Congress today played its trump card by announcing the name of state party president Amrinder Raja Warring against BJP candidate and sitting Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu, who recently left his parent party to join the BJP.

Outsider for Ferozepur?

• n Though the names of former MP Sher Singh Ghubaya and former MLA Raminder Awla are under consideration, the Congress is planning to field an outsider in Ferozepur
• n “It could be an actor or any popular face for the segment that has a sizeable Rai Sikh votes,” said a senior leader

‘Prestige issue for PCC chief’

It is matter of prestige for Raja Warring as the outcome of the poll will decide his future in the PCC as the fight for the supremacy of being the tallest leader in the Punjab Congress is always there. Warring needs to take all leaders, especially the ticket aspirants, in Ludhiana along. A senior Cong leader

Not only Ludhiana, the party has announced its heavyweight leaders Sukhjinder Randhawa and Vijay Inder Singla from Gurdaspur and Anandpur Sahib, respectively. Both are former Cabinet ministers. While Randhawa is party affairs in-charge of the Rajasthan Congress, Singla is holding a key post in the AICC. For Khadoor Sahib, the party has fielded former Moga MLA Kulbir Zira.

The party appears to have adopted a tough stand in finalising the name of Kulbir Zira for the Khadoor Sahib seat. Earlier, the party was keen on giving the ticket to Rana Inder Partap Singh, son of sitting MLA from Kapurthala, Rana Gurjeet Singh. “As Rana was insisting on the ticket from Anandpur Sahib, the party did not buckle under pressure and chose Zira instead,” said sources.

Soon after the tickets were announced, the PPCC chief took to X to hit out at Ravneet Bittu stating “Those individuals, once entrusted with responsibilities and showered the support by the party, turned out to be deserters. First, it was against the power of the Badals in Bathinda, and now it’s against these deserters.”

A senior party leader said, “It is matter of prestige for Warring as the outcome of the poll will decide his future in the organisation as the fight for the supremacy of being the tallest leader in the Punjab Congress is always there. Warring needs to take all leaders, especially the ticker aspirants, in Ludhiana along.”

A Jat Sikh, Warring had unsuccessfully contested the Bathinda seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Again in Gurdaspur, the party is betting on its strongest candidate in place of sitting Gurdaspur MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra. A former Deputy CM in the Charanjit Channi-led Congress government, Randhawa is a four-time MLA from Dera Baba Nanak.

In case of the Anandpur Sahib seat, the party has relied on its former Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla, who had unsuccessfully contested the Sangrur assembly seat in the 2022 poll. Instead of choosing an OBC leader or former Speaker and a Hindu face, Rana KP Singh, the party has reposed faith in Singla, also Hindu face. The party did the same when it fielded Manish Tewari in place of Ravneet Bittu in the 2019 parliamentary elections from Anandpur Sahib.