Amarinder stops Modi tsunami in Punjab

Friday, 24/05/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/05/23/amarinder-stops-modi-tsunami-in-punjab/

Chandigarh : The which swept most of the country on Thursday was stopped in Punjab where the ruling Congress party managed to win eight of the 13 parliamentary seats it contested. The SAD won two seats while its electoral ally BJP also bagged two seats. One seat went to AAP. The Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh led from the front and campaigned all over the state after securing party tickets for candidates recommended by him. He attacked the Akalis everywhere accusing them of failure to take action against the culprits involved in the incidents of sacrilege and police firings. But despite his best efforts, he could not ensure victory for the state party chief, Sunil Jakhar who lost to BJP’s film star nominee, Sunny Deol, shrewdly imported from Bollywood by BJP president, Amit Shah. Throughout the election campaign, the Akalis were on the back foot because of the heat they have been facing due to incidents of sacrilege and police firings at Behbal Kalan and Bargari. This is where the Modi wave came in handy for them and helped them to coast to victory in Bathinda and Ferozepur. For the first time, the Akalis were dependent on their electoral partner BJP which has so far been riding piggyback on its partner to power in the state. Unlike in the past when they highlighted their panthic credentials to solicit votes from the Sikh masses, the Akalis unabashedly sought votes in the name of “a strong and decisive leader like Narendra Modi”. The SAD-BJP campaign was helped in no small measure by Congress leader Sam Piroda’s “hua to hua” remark in Punjab on 1984 riots. It gave them just the ammunition they were looking for in the closing stages of the electoral battle. Rahul tried to defuse the crisis by not only pulling up Pitroda during a rally in Punjab and seeking a public apology but asserting that the culprits should be punished. But the damage was done. There was no doubt an undercurrent of antiincumbency against the Congress government of Captain Amarinder Singh due its alleged failure to fulfill its poll promises, but neither the SAD nor the AAP could fully capitalise on it. The Congress is now facing an internal rebellion from its minister and star campaigner, Navjot Singh Sidhu who apparently enjoys the support of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Whether or not Sidhu’s “friendly match” outburst at Bathinda damaged the Congress, the Chief Minister has indicated that he will take up Sidhu’s issue with the High Command at the earliest opportunity. At the beginning of election campaign, both AkaliBJP and Congress engaged in mind games by keeping each other tenterhooks in the key constituencies of Ferozepur, Bathinda and Gurdaspur. Each waited for the other to make the first move. Finally, Congress named Raja Warring and Sher Singh Gubhaya its nominees for Bathinda and Ferozepur from where Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal contested. The last to go off the block in ticket allotment, the BJP dropped a Union minister Vijay Sampla in Hoshiarpur seat, fielded another, Hardeep Singh Puri in Amritsar and roped in actor Sunny Deol to reclaim its bastion, Gurdaspur. The AAP had been down and demoralised by infighting and party supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s apology to former Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia on drug charges that helped the rookie party win four seats in 2014 parliamentary polls in Punjab and become the main opposition the state assembly in 2017. Just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the AAP also lost face after being stung by defection of two MLAs and Kejriwal desperately seeking an alliance with the Congress. Despite everything, AAP’s Punjab chief Bhagwant Mann has managed to keep the party’s flag flying by retaining the Sangrur seat. Only two years ago, the Congress won a stunning victory in the 2017 assembly elections by sweeping Punjab with a two-thirds majority riding on a populist campaign designed by poll strategist Prashant Kishor and anti-incumbency against Akalis. But keeping the promises has proved to be a tall order.