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Unlike Sangrur, Moose Wala factor, radical issues failed to impact AAP prospects
AAP senior leader Sanghera said voters rejected Opposition-backed tactics and choose pro-people agenda of govt
Even as Aam Aadmi Party candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku dubbed the landslide victory in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll as validation of ruling party’s populist agenda, other key factors, including allegations of lopsided investigation into the killing of famous punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh, alias Sidhu Moose Wala, have failed to impact AAP’s prospects this time.
Rinku got better of Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary with a margin of 58,691 votes.
Moose Wala’s murder on May 29 last year was considered to be the main reason behind AAP’s defeat in Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll last year, just three months after it came to power with a heavy mandate.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar (SAD-A) Simranjit Singh Mann won the Sangrur seat by defeating Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gurmail Singh by around 5,822 votes
While campaigning for the Jalandhar bypoll was on, Moose Wala’s father Balkaur Singh and mother Charan Kaur openly appealed to people to vote for any party but not AAP for delaying justice in the murder case.
On May 6, they kicked off a campaign named “Insaaf Yatra-Justice of Sidhu Moosewala” for their son. Both his parents addressed and toured nine assembly segments in Jalandhar parliamentary constituency. Their gatherings witnessed huge rush of Moose Wala’s fans at different locations where his parents told people that the government had done nothing in the past 11 months to ensure justice for their deceased son.
Despite having association with Congress, Moose Wala’s parents choose not to campaign under any political flag.
They also visited Latifpura demolition site, an issue which put government on the back foot last year, on May 6 to meet the affected families.
From Jalandhar Cantt, in which Latifpura area falls, AAP candidate Rinku got a lead of 6,995 votes.
Both Moose Wala and Latifpura cases were prominently mentioned by Opposition leaders in their speeches during the campaign for the bypoll.
AAP’s senior leader and Jalandhar improvement trust chairman Jagtar Singh Sanghera said the voters rejected Opposition-backed tactics and choose pro-people agenda of the government. “There is no impact of Latifpura demolition case on the bypoll as we have already exposed shoddy landings by the land mafia on this particular piece of land. As far as Moose Wala’s case is concerned, the sincerity of the state government and Punjab Police could be gauged from the fact that all main accused have already been arrested and other remaining culprits are on police’s radar,” said Sanghera.
Other key issues of arrest of radical leader Amritpal Singh and arrest of other Sikh youths under the National Security Act, which were prominently highlighted by SAD leaders, failed to leave an impression.
