Jakhar frontrunner for Gurdaspur seat
Friday, 29/03/2019
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/jakhar-frontrunner-for-gurdaspur-seat/749830.html
New Delhi : Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar is a clear frontrunner for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat while two sitting Congress MPs — Ravneet Bittu and Santokh Choudhary—are likely to be retained in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, respectively. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur will be the party nominee from Patiala.
A broad agreement on potential nominees was reached at the second meeting of the party ticket screening committee here today. There is no clarity on who will contest from Amritsar. An AICC source said, “After former PM Manmohan Singh declined to fight from Amritsar owing to ill-health, we had to revise our strategy. Discussions are still on.”
The sitting Amritsar MP is Gurjeet Aujla. Another probable is city Mayor Karamjit Rintu. Sources said the party could consider state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s candidature from any seat, including Amritsar, if he so wanted, which is unlikely.
In Anandpur Sahib, nothing has been firmed up yet. Top leaders said much would depend on former minister Ambika Soni. She is unlikely to contest herself and may back a candidate, if her son declines to fight too. Former minister Manish Tewari, Congress spokesman Jaiveer Shergill, the son of former minister Jagmohan Kang, and Amarinder Singh’s aide Sandeep Sandhu are among the ticket aspirants for Anandpur Sahib.
State Finance Minister Manpreet Badal is unlikely to contest from Bathinda and has conveyed the same to the party leadership, it is learnt. Applicants for the Bathinda seat include Punjab Health Minister Brahm Mohindra’s son and senior leader Ajit Singh Mofar.
The screening committee members – AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, AICC Punjab incharge Asha Kumari, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and state chief Sunil Jakhar – today kept Bathinda and Ferozepur seats pending for discussions, subject to the SAD strategy.
Although there were indications that Akali MP from Bathinda Harsimrat Badal would defend her seat and SAD president Sukhbir Badal would contest from Ferozepur, there is nothing official yet. “We will open our cards after the Akalis declare names for Bathinda and Ferozepur,” an AICC leader said.
In Faridkot, the party has agreed to field a Mazhabi Sikh. No candidate has been finalised. In Fatehgarh Sahib, the toss is between Bassi Pathana MLA Gurpreet Singh GP and Amar Singh. In Hoshiarpur, it’s between Santosh Choudhary, a sitting MLA, and Yamini Gomar, formerly with AAP.
Ferozepur also remains open.The Congress plan here would depend on the Akali move. State minister Rana Sodhi and his son Anumeet are among those in the race. Former Akali MP Sher Singh Gubhaya is also coveting the seat. The panel decided to repeat three Hindu candidates, as it did in 2014
when the Congress fielded Ambika Soni in Anandpur Sahib, Sunil Jakhar in Ferozepur and Vijay Inder Singla in Sangrur.
Anandpur Sahib, Sangrur and possibly Bathinda could fall in this category. One line of thought in the Congress is to field Singla from Bathinda. The Congress is hoping to declare at least some of the 13 Lok Sabha candidates in Punjab by April 2.
