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Punjab: Poster war breaks out in Bathinda
On Tuesday, posters were spotted across the city with state president of the Congress Amarinder Singh Raja Warring getting a prominent space while Shiromani Akali Dal’s veteran leader incumbent parliamentarian from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s publicity material also sprung up in the constituency.
A poster war has broken out for the high stakes Bathinda Lok Sabha seat even as most political parties are yet to announce their candidates.
On Tuesday, posters were spotted across the city with state president of the Congress Amarinder Singh Raja Warring getting a prominent space while Shiromani Akali Dal’s veteran leader incumbent parliamentarian from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s publicity material also sprung up in the constituency.
SAD, Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) have not fielded leaders for the elections for which the polling will be held in the last phase on June 1.
Warring is learnt to have been lobbying hard for his wife Amrita Warring, an electoral greenhorn, from the Bathinda seat. In the Congress posters, Amrita’s pictures were missing.
Warring, who represents the Gidderbaha assembly segment, had unsuccessfully contested from Bathinda in the 2019 LS elections. The state Congress head lost the election from Harsimrat by a margin of about 21,000 votes.
According to speculations, Warring may be fielded again whereas Fateh Singh Badal, son of the veteran Congress leader Mahesh Inder Singh Badal, cousin of late Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, is also a claimant for the seat.
Congress party’s posters have pictures of the party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi, leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Bajwa and party affairs in-charge for the state Devender Yadav. These publicity materials speak of various electoral promises of the party including creating more government jobs, transferring ₹1 lakh a year to the poorest families and better political governance.
In SAD’s posters, the establishment of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been credited as the major achievement of Akalis which is catering affordable healthcare to southwest Punjab and the adjoining districts of Haryana and Rajasthan.
These posters have pictures of the Badal family namely late chief minister Parkash Singh, SAD president Sukhbir Badal and his wife, Harsimrat, who is believed to contest for the fourth consecutive term from Bathinda that has been nurtured as Akali bastion.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was the first to field its Lambi legislator, Gurmeet Singh Khudian for the parliamentary elections but publicity material in his support is not much visible yet.
