SAD’s decision not to contest bypoll has left Congress worried

The decision of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) not to contest the bypoll to the four Assembly segments has left the Congress worried.

AAP leader joins BJP

• Pritpal Sharma, who contested the Assembly poll from Gidderbaha on the AAP ticket in 2022, joined the BJP along with his supporters in Chandigarh on Saturday
• Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, BJP's state general secretary Anil Sarin and state media head Vineet Joshi were present on the occasion.

In the absence of SAD candidates, the party’s cadre votes, especially in the Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal Assembly segments, will now look for candidates of other parties, depending upon various permutations and combinations.

Prior to the 2012 Assembly elections, Gidderbaha had been a Akali stronghold and Hardeep Singh Dimpy, who recently switched to AAP, had been nurturing the constituency since 2017 and has unsuccessfully contested the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections but lost to Amrinder Raja Warring. Earlier, Manpreet Badal remained MLA four times in a row on SAD ticket in 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2007.

“With Manpreet joining BJP, Dimpy joining AAP and Akalis not contesting, the four-cornered contest has now become triangular. The sizeable Akali cadre votes could now split among the non-Congress parties. Internal reports suggest that Sukhbir Badal could go an extra mile to support his first cousin for larger political interests,” said a senior Congress leader.

PPCC chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Raja Warring has on record already stated that Akalis not contesting the elections was part of a scripted story of SAD and BJP. It would come out soon. He said he has been saying since 2019 that Badal cousins are united. However, the PPCC chief does not feel that the Akalis helping Manpreet Badal would damage the Congress.

In Dera Baba Nanak, former Akali leader Ravi Kahlon (who has shifted to the BJP) and AAP candidate Gurdeep Singh Randhawa are expected to eat into Akali votes. This has made the competition tough for Jatinder Kaur, Congress candidate and wife of Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa. Otherwise, Dera Baba Nanak had been a Congress stronghold since 2012.

Congress leaders point out that in the reserved Chabbewal constituency, the contest had become tougher with Congress man-turned-AAP MP Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal bringing in his son Ishank as AAP candidate. With former Akali minister Sohan Singh Thandal joining AAP, the problems for Congress have compounded. Congress candidate Ranjit Kumar (a former BSP leader) is on a weak footing due to the protest by Congress leader Kulwinder Singh Rasoolpur who was working as constituency in-charge.