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Congress fields Ishwarjot Cheema from Ludhiana South
Soon after the Congress announced Ishwarjot Cheema’s candidature from Ludhiana South, fissures ruptured within the Congress’ local unit with senior Congress leader KK Bawa, who wanted to contest polls from the constituency, condemning the decision
Ending the impasse over Ludhiana South, the Congress on Saturday decided to field Ishwarjot Cheema, a close confidant of Cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
Soon after the announcement, fissures ruptured within the Congress’ local unit with senior Congress leader KK Bawa, who wanted to contest polls from the constituency, condemning the decision. “The party has no value for sacrifice. I had continued to work for the party during the dark days of militancy, and had even suffered a bullet shot. Senior leaders are being denied a ticket, while a close chum of the minister was made the candidate.”
Training his guns at Punjab election in-charge Harish Chaudhary, Bawa accused him of trading assembly tickets. “The party has disappointed me for the seventh time. At this stage, it is really important to save the party from black sheep,” said Bawa.
Who is Ishwarjot Cheema?
Ishwarjot Singh Cheema used to be the right-hand man of former Congress MP Gurcharan Singh Galib, and had followed the leader to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2008. However, Ashu was able to persuade Cheema to return to the party’s fold.
He was also made chairperson of the economic and political cell of the Congress. Cheema has been working in Ludhiana- South for a year and even opened a party office. He was seen targeting MLA and Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) leader Balwinder Bains on civic and other development issues. After being given the ticket, he thanked the party for showing trust in him.
