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Bathinda: Parampal kickstarts political campaign, faces farmers’ wrath
Parampal attended an event organised by the district unit of the party at its office near Panchwati Nagar locality in the city on Saturday and was introduced to the local leadership as the official party nominee for the LS polls by BJP’s urban unit president Sarup Chand Singla
Even before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced her candidature from Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, the Punjab-cadre IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu, who joined the saffron party in New Delhi on April 11, started electoral activities in the constituency on Saturday.
Parampal attended an event organised by the district unit of the party at its office near Panchwati Nagar locality in the city on Saturday and was introduced to the local leadership as the official party nominee for the LS polls by BJP’s urban unit president Sarup Chand Singla.
As the BJP leaders gathered at the event, a group of farm activists from Dakaunda and Ugrahan factions of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) protested raising slogans against the BJP-led central government. Police present at the spot prevented the protestors from disrupting the event.
The BJP leaders then visited various shrines in the district on the occasion of Baisakhi. Earlier on Saturday, Sidhu, who is the daughter-in-law of senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab cabinet minister Sikander Singh Maluka, visited Rampura Phul said she came to Bathinda today after getting a clear indication from the party leadership about her candidature. Rampura Phul is a traditional political stronghold of the Maluka family.
The then head of SAD’s farmers’ cell, Maluka was the first Akali leader to oppose the three contentious central farm laws.
Sidhu and her husband Gurpreet Singh Maluka, a former general secretary of the SAD, were given a warm reception by the BJP vice-president Jagdeep Nakai, a two-time Akali MLA and a former confidant of Sukhbir Badal. She interacted with the cadre of the saffron party and villagers at Rampura Phul and Bathinda.
“I belong to a family of farmers and I will contest elections to become a voice of the agrarian community. Nakai sa’ab played a crucial role in pushing my candidature from the Bathinda LS constituency and I am sure of getting support from all quarters of the party and constituency,” said the BJP leader, who holds a postgraduate degree in zoology.
On her contest against the Akalis in Bathinda, Sidhu said that SAD has completely lost its political relevance, adding, “I am confident of getting full from the farming community as well.”
On being asked if her father-in-law Sikander Maluka would support her campaign, Sidhu said it is the prerogative of the family elder.
“He (Maluka senior) has devoted his entire political life to the SAD and due to his decades-old loyalty, he is not uttering anything. We cannot force him to make any decision in our favour. But a lot will depend upon the SAD’s conduct towards him,” she added.
