Congress and Barnalas to each other’s rescue

Simarpartap Singh Barnala (far right) with Amarinder Singh at a rally in Dhuri on Wednesday.

In Dhuri, an assembly constituency in Punjab heading for a bypoll on April 11, it is only of academic interest that a victory will give the Shiromani Akali Dal an absolute majority. The SAD, in any case, does not face an immediate threat from its junior partner the BJP.

What really makes the poll intriguing is the candidate against the Akalis, and how he got his ticket. Simarpartap Singh Barnala is a grandson of former Akali Dal chief Surjit Singh Barnala who would later break away to form the SAD (Barnala). Simar, 27, a lawyer practising in high court, is a member of another faction, SAD (Longowal). And he is contesting on a Congress ticket, with the backing of other opposition parties.

He is taking on SAD-BJP candidate Gobind Singh Longowal, who hails from the same village as the late Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, though they are not related.

The Congress and the candidate came together more out of mutual necessity than out of choice. The party couldn’t find anyone else; the Barnala family needed such an opportunity to come out of political oblivion.

The seat was with the Congress but its MLA, Arvind Khanna, stepped down, necessitating the bypoll. The party initially shortlisted at least four names. Former MP Vijay Inder Singla opted out; he had been defeated in the Lok Sabha elections, allegedly by rivals in the party. Barnala district chief Mai Roop Kaur withdrew citing health reasons. MLA Kewal Dhillon, whose son Vikram was another probable, issued a statement saying he would rather support Barnala. The fourth shortlisted, Surjit Dhiman, wouldn’t contest either.

The party then went to the Barnala family, which enjoys local clout. The ticket came when the family had been pushed to the fringes after Surijit Singh Barnala’s son, former MLA Gaganjeet, was expelled by the SAD in 2009. Gaganjeet Singh Barnala himself was an SAD MLA from 2002 to 2007 before losing in 2007. In 2009, he faced allegations of working against Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in the Lok Sabha election to Sangrur, which the Congress won. Since then, Surjit Singh Barnala has been nominated the patron of Manpreet Badal’s Sanjha Morcha, a front of PPP, SAD (Longowal) and Left parties, but even that couldn’t get the Barnalas out of oblivion.

Before Simar’s name came up, the Congress is said to have considered Gaganjit and later his wife. But the fact that Gaganjeet had once faced charges of rape (he was acquitted later) put the Congress off. Simar became the unanimous choice of all factions of the Congress and also of the PPP’s Manpreet.

The Left has not yet extended its support to Simar; its leaders are said to have reservations about his Congress symbol. Some Congress leaders, including MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, former MLA Dhanwant Singh and Bir Devinder, have objected to the choice.

With 1.5 lakh voters including 45,000 in the town area, Simar is seen as a strong contender. The fact that he is a joint candidate gives him an added advantage. It is unclear, though, whether he will be backed by Arvind Khanna, whose NGO, Umeed Foundation, makes him hugely popular in Dhuri.

Congress general secretary-in-charge of Punjab Dr Shakeel Ahmed said the party wanted a consenus candidate. “We had an alliance with the SAD (Longowal) in the Lok Sabha polls and the Barnala family helped us a lot on the ground,” Ahmed said. “We made a commitment we would continue our alliance and give them two seats in assembly polls. Coincidentally, this seat fell vacant and with the Barnalas enjoying a lot of goodwill here, Simar’s name was finalised.”

Source:: Indian Express