Punjab: Cheema, Chandumajra vie for SAD ticket from Anandpur Sahib
Two senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders – former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema – are staking claim for the party ticket from the Anandpur Sahib Parliamentary segment
Chandigarh : Two senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders – former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema – are staking claim for the party ticket from the Anandpur Sahib Parliamentary segment.
Polling for the general elections in Punjab will be held in the last phase on June 1.
Supporters of Cheema -- former education minister and party spokesperson -- met SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday batting for his candidature from the Anandpur Sahib seat, people familiar with the development said.
Chandumajra, who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha poll to Congress’ Manish Tewari by a margin of more than 46,000 votes, is in direct conversation with the party president claiming to be the “most suitable” candidate from the segment, according to party insiders.
Both the leaders have already started campaigning the constituency.
Staking his claim over the seat, Cheema said he was elected as an MLA from the Rupnagar assembly constituency, which is part of the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat, in 2012. In 2009 state polls, Cheema lost to Ravneet Bittu, then in the Congress, by a thin margin. He also served as the education minister in the SAD-BJP government from 2014 to 2017.
On being questioned, Cheema said: “Chandumajra can be a better option from the Patiala Lok Sabha seat as he and his son had contested from two assembly seats --- Ghanaur and Sanaur --- in the 2022 assembly elections.
In the 2022 polls, Chandumajra and his son Harinder Pal Singh unsuccessfully contested from Sanaur and Ghanaur constituencies. Harinder won the Sanaur seat in the 2017 elections.
“I have not claimed ticket from Anandpur Sahib or any other constituency. The party president has asked everyone to start campaigning and the candidates will be finalised in a few days,” said Chandumajra, who remained MP from Patiala in 1996 and 1998 and later from Anandpur Sahib in 2014 and MLA from Dakala in 1986.
SAD forms 15-member manifesto committee
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday announced the formation of a 15-member manifesto committee for the Lok Sabha polls.
The committee will be led by senior leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder
The committee has 15 members and in addition, six members have been added as special invitees,
The panel also includes party leaders Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Iqbal Singh Jhundan, former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur, former legislators Bikramjit Singh Majithia, Sikander Singh Maluka, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Anil Joshi, Hira Singh Gabria, Pawan Kumar Tinu, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, and MLA Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi.
The six special invitees include Youth Akali Dal chief Sarabjit Singh Jhinjer, Istri Dal chief Hargobind Kaur and SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Kler.