Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 15: Within minutes of the Congress announcing its first list of candidates for the Punjab elections, its sitting member from Moga immediate drove down to Chandigarh and headed for the BJP office. Harjot Kamal, the Congress Moga MLA, was unhappy over he being denied the party ticket for re-election in preference to Malvika Sood, the sister of philanthropist film actor Sonu Sood, who joined the party this week.
Kamal arrived at the BJP office in Chandigarh and was seen greeting leaders there. “I was denied election ticket which was insulting for me,” said Kamal after joining BJP. He added that the party leadership had asked him to contest from another place which he refused as he felt insulted by the Congress.
“Even while visiting Moga, Sidhu’ Sahab (State Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu) did not visit my place but directly went to the Sood (Malvika Sood) house,” said Kamal. “I don’t have any objection behind Congress selecting Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood, Sonu Sood himself can contest. The problem is Congress not giving me a ticket from Moga. Malvika Sood is like my sister but she doesn’t have any political qualification, except being the sister of Sonu Sood,” Kamal said.
According to him, the Congress ignored his contribution to the party. “I have spent 21 years with the Congress, starting as a Youth Congress worker. Moga was a Congress-devoid area and I have worked hard to establish the Congress in Moga by breaking the SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) wave,” he said.
The Punjab Congress has decided to field Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from Chamkaur Sahib constituency and Sidhu from Amritsar (East) while Punjab singer Sidhu Moosewala will contest from Mansa.
Ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, Congress on Saturday released its list of candidates for 86 seats, providing tickets to 60 sitting MLAs, which included 17 ministers and CM Channi. It has denied ticket to four sitting MLAs.
Among the sitting MLAs who have been denied tickets are Dr Harjot Kamal from Moga and Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti from Malout, where it has fielded AAP-turned-Congress MLA Rupinder Kaur Ruby.
Channi’s brother, Dr Manohar Singh, who had resigned from government service to stake a claim for the party’s candidature from Bassi Pathana, has not been nominated. The party has instead fielded sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh GP, who was being backed by Sidhu. Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa, whose brother and sitting MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa had joined BJP recently, has been nominated from Qadian.
Out of 18 ministers (including the CM), the Congress has given tickets to all of them except Brahm Mohindra, who has vacated his Patiala (rural) seat for his son. All other ministers in the outgoing cabinet will contest from their respective constituencies.
Punjab Youth Congress chief Barinder Singh Dhillon has been fielded from Ropar. Another PYC leader Amarpreet Singh Lally has won the battle against Channi’s choice Nimisha Mehta from Garhshankar. Former PPCC chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar had fiercely opposed Mehta and backed Lally till the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting.