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Punjab polls: Four-cornered contest in Phagwara as AAP, BSP challenge Congress & BJP
The BJP chose its former state president and chairperson of National Commission for Schedule Caste Vijay Sampla, while the Congress retained its sitting MLA and former IAS officer Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal
The only reserved seat of Kapurthala district, Phagwara, has been set for a four-cornered contest in the upcoming polls as four major political players in the fray have fielded their strong candidates there.
The BJP chose its former state president and chairperson of National Commission for Schedule Caste Vijay Sampla, while the Congress retained its sitting MLA and former IAS officer Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal. The BSP gave ticket to its state president Jasvir Singh Garhi and the Aam Aadmi Party trusted former minister Joginder Singh Mann with Phagwara.
The constituency comprises urban and rural segments, including a sizeable population belonging to the scheduled caste, whereas it has significant chunk of Hindus and Sikhs, and a part of Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency. All the four players have the common promise to make Phagwara a new district if their party is voted to power since the area is not directly connected to Kapurthala district.
BJP’s Som Parkash, a former IAS officer, managed to retain his seat in the 2017 polls when the party and its former alliance partner the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) faced a rout across the state. But when Parkash (now a Union minister for state) was elected as MP from Hoshiarpur in 2019, the Congress had fielded Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, also a former IAS officer, in the bypoll and won. The BJP has won the Phagwara seat four times since 1997.
Now, the Akali Dal is contesting elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which also changes the poll equation for the BJP, whereas the Congress has been banking on the performance of Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s 111-day government and promoting the work done during his regime, including waiving the electricity bills. It is a high-stakes battle for the BSP as well with its state president contesting the polls, while AAP’s Joginder Singh Mann is riding on the party’s slogan of ‘one chance for change’ and personal connection as he became the first MLA of Phagwara in 1985.
Balwinder Dhaliwal said that Channi has already announced to make Phagwara a new district and brought maximum funds for the constituency, whereas people have accepted the Channi government’s three-month work and want to give it five more years.
He said that leaders of the BJP and the AAP were already rejected by the people as they don’t have vision for Phagwara.
Vijay Sampla said Phagwara witnessed rise in crime rate as the present setup failed to provide a secure environment and property grabbing incidents were prevalent under political patronage. “We will provide a peaceful environment besides addressing every demand of people, including creating a new district. Earlier, we made an airport in Adampur, a passport centre in Phagwara and did other developments,” he said, claiming that they were “totally united” when asked about reports of infighting within the BJP.
AAP’s Joginder Singh Mann, who is a former Congress leader too, said he has been raising the matter of making Phagwara a new district for the past many years. He has also released a 21-point agenda, ‘My roadmap for our Phagwara’, focusing on progress and prosperity of the constituency.
“Apart from it, we will ensure that perpetrators of post-matric scholarship scam, including Phagwara MLA Dhaliwal, are punished,” added Mann.
Jasvir Singh Garhi said besides creating a new district, they will set up a 550-bed hospital, a drug-free environment and ensure proper urban and rural development.
