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Hot seat Gidderbaha: Warring locked in tough battle with SAD’s Dhillon
Political watchers consider Warring’s fight with Dhillon beyond political limits as both camps charge each other with making personal attacks. Bitterness between the electoral rivals grew thicker after Warring assumed the charge as the state transport minister and started impounding buses of private operators for non-payment of tax dues in October last year. Dhillon, a leading private bus operator, blames Warring for alleged vendetta to settle political scores
BATHINDA: Two-time Congress MLA and the transport minister Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is fighting a dual electoral battle from Gidderbaha with his arch-rival Hardeep Singh ‘Dimpy’ Dhillon of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and from within the party.
Political watchers consider Warring’s fight with Dhillon beyond political limits as both camps charge each other with making personal attacks. Bitterness between the electoral rivals grew thicker after Warring assumed the charge as the state transport minister and started impounding buses of private operators for non-payment of tax dues in October last year. Dhillon, a leading private bus operator, blames Warring for alleged vendetta to settle political scores.
A greenhorn candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Pritpal Sharma, is harping on his party’s call for a “political change” whereas the BJP’s ally Punjab Lok Congress has fielded a novice, Om Prakash, from this rural seat. Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) candidate Gurpreet Kotli is also in the fray as an independent.
Warring, who came into limelight in 2012 polls after he won Gidderbaha, the political bastion of Akalis for over 40 years, is now facing the heat of intra-party rivalry.
The incumbent MLA had last year attacked finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who had represented Gidderbaha on four occasions as an Akali candidate, for interfering in his constituency. In July last year, Warring had even tagged former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Twitter, urging him to take note of Manpreet’s alleged anti-party activities and demanded his removal from the state cabinet.
Manpreet always chose not to respond to these allegations. And Warring has not retracted from his statements on Manpreet, who is seeking re-election from Bathinda Urban.
In a video posted on his Facebook page on Sunday night, Warring said the entire Badal family was conspiring to defeat him. “People have sunk their differences with me to consolidate support to defeat the powerful Badal clan. My people will not let them defeat a boy from sadharan parviar,” said the minister without naming the individual. In an interview on Monday, Warring stressed a stricter discipline in the party against erring Congressmen.
Akali patriarch and five-time former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal represented Gidderbaha for a record five times since 1969.
A party hopper, Manpreet won Gidderbaha seat four times as SAD candidate before parting ways with the Akalis after forming People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) in 2011.
In 2012, Warring, a former national president of the Indian Youth Congress, registered a victory after winning the stronghold of the Akalis. In that election, Manpreet finished a poor third after his People’s Party of Punjab failed to make its presence felt.
Ahead of the 2017 elections, Manpreet joined the Congress and won the Bathinda Urban seat and became a cabinet minister.
Known for his booth-level management, Warring is flying high on development works in his constituency, including strengthening sewerage and underground drinking water networks. He tried to portray himself as a minister with zero tolerance for inefficiencies in the transport department.
On the other hand, Dhillon is trying to consolidate support against Warring for his two-term anti-incumbency and five years of the Congress government.
This week, the SAD managed to win over former Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, Raghubir Singh Pardhan, a bitter rival of Warring.
AAP’s Sharma, a former president of Muktsar District Bar Association, is consolidating support in the name of party’s CM face Bhagwant Mann and Delhi model of Arvind Kejriwal.
