Dissent brews over ticket to turncoats, Congress dithers over remaining seven Punjab Lok Sabha seats

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, April 17

Voices of dissent within the Congress are delaying the announcement of candidates for the remaining seven seats in Punjab.

The parliamentary seats for which the candidates are yet to be announced are Faridkot, Ferozepur, Khadoor Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Gurdaspur.

Mollifying local leaders

• Senior Congress leaders rushed to Dhuri to mollify former MLA Dalbir Goldy, who has questioned the selection criteria after being denied ticket from Sangrur
• The party has stepped up efforts to placate Patiala leaders who are strongly opposing the candidature of Dr Dharamvira Gandhi from the seat

Sources said the names are likely to be released by next week. Amid the protest by unhappy leaders against the candidates already fielded by the party in Patiala and Sangrur, the Punjab Congress is treading a cautious path now and keeping local leaders on board.

The party’s Punjab affairs in-charge, Devender Yadav, did not respond to phone calls.

Today, PPCC chief Amarinder Raja Warring along with former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal rushed to Dhuri to mollify former MLA Dalbir Goldy, who had yesterday questioned the selection criteria after being denied ticket from Sangrur. The party has fielded Sukhpal Khaira from the seat.

The party today also stepped up efforts to placate Patiala leaders who are strongly opposing the candidature of Dr Dharamvira Gandhi. The PPCC chief today met former PPCC chief Lal Singh, his son Rajinder Singh and former MLA from Rajpura Hardyal Kamboj to dissuade them from opposing Dr Gandhi. Kamboj has called a meeting on April 20 to decide on the next course of action.

Sensing trouble in Hoshiarpur, Yadav today chaired a meeting of leaders from Sri Hargobindpur, Phagwara, Mukerian, Dasuya, Urmur, Sham Chaurasi, Hoshiarpur and Chabbewal Assembly segments that fall under the Hoshiarpur parliamentary seat. The PPCC chief and CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa were also present in the meeting.

Amid the reports that the Congress was in talks with disgruntled BJP leader Vijay Sampla for the Hoshairpur seat, those who attended the meeting opposed fielding a “parachute candidate” when there were strong claimants for the seat in the party. Apart from the name of former Sham Chaurasi MLA Pawan Adia, former PPCC chief Mohinder Kaypee and former minister Aruna Chaudhary are under consideration for the seat.

Those who attended the meeting included former MLAs Pawan Adia, Sangat Singh Gilzian and Micky Dogra, besides Indu Bala and other leaders. It is learnt that former CM Charanjit Channi, who is contesting from Jalandhar, is interested in roping in Sampla as the disgruntled BJP leader has influence in the Jalandhar (West) segment.

Yesterday, the CLP leader met senior Ludhiana leaders amid reports of BJP candidate Ravneet Bittu trying to woo Congress leaders.

Besides, senior Hindu and OBC leaders are seeking adequate allocation of tickets for community members to counter the BJP. So far, the party has nominated Dr Gandhi from Patiala. Going by the vote share of Hindus, party leaders have been demanding at least three seats for the community.