PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS: For Warring, chance to bolster party for Assembly byelection

For the past few days, the Gidderbaha Assembly segment -– represented by PPCC chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Raja Warring — has literally turned into the political capital for Punjab Congress.

In the run-up to tomorrow’s panchayat poll, Warring has been camping in the constituency to reclaim the lost political ground ahead of the coming byelections to four Assembly segments, including Gidderbaha. Not only Gidderbaha, the party is using the panchayat elections as the springboard to reclaim its lost political ground in Hoshiarpur, Barnala and Gurdaspur Assembly seats where byelections are around the corner.

“The state Election Commission had to cancel the elections to 24 panchayats in 22 villages in Gidderbaha after I, along with other party leaders, sat on dharna. But I am not confined to Gidderbaha, I went to Patti and Zira to accompany the party-supported candidates to fill nomination papers,” said Warring while defending his focus on Gidderbaha.

“All our leaders will be in the field tomorrow, responding to every call on misuse of power by the ruling party,” he said adding that they will be crisscrossing the state tomorrow.

Congress strategists point out that though the party won seven seats in the recently held parliamentary poll, the party fared badly in Gidderbaha Assembly segment, coming third. It lost the Hoshiarpur and Sangrur seats and won the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.

Party leader from Tanda Urmur, Hoshiarpur, and former minister Sangat Singh Gilzian said, “The panchayat polls are litmus test for us. Though the elections are not being fought on party symbol, it is the right opportunity to reclaim lost ground and rev up the party cadre in rural areas.”