Already feeling the heat from the rebels, the prospects of Congress’ Jagraon candidate Jagtar Singh Hissowal took another major hit with Punjab State Safai Karamchari Commission chairman Geja Ram Valmiki on Monday making an appeal to the Valmiki community to boycott the party.
Geja Ram, a former general secretary of Punjab Congress, turned rebel after the party’s decision to field Hissowal, an Aam Aadmi Party turncoat, from Jagraon for the upcoming state assembly elections over him.
The leader’s appeal to the Valmiki community and SC community, which has a sizable population in the area, is expected to put a dent on the party’s performance in the constituency, which is already set to witness a multi-cornered fight.
He said the appeal was addressed to the 45,000-strong Scheduled Caste and Mazhabi Sikh voters and even bigger Hindu voter base in the constituency, who according to him had been ignored by the Congress.
“I have been working in the assembly segment for a long time. In 2017, the party chose Malkit Dakha and now the ticket has been given to Hissowal, an AAP turncoat, who joined the Congress a few months ago. The party has ignored the SC community and my work in the constituency. A minister from the district played an important role in getting the ticket for Hissowal and we will also oppose him. The SC community has been ignored completely and Congress will bear the brunt for the same,” he said.
Notably, former state minister and ticket aspirant Malkit Singh Dakha, who lost the 2017 election from the constituency by over 25,000 votes, had earlier opposed the party’s decision to field Hissowal.
{{/usCountry}}Notably, former state minister and ticket aspirant Malkit Singh Dakha, who lost the 2017 election from the constituency by over 25,000 votes, had earlier opposed the party’s decision to field Hissowal.
{{/usCountry}}Another ticket aspirant, Avtar Singh Cheema had also jumped ship and joined BJP after the party decided to field Hissowal.
Despite multiple attempts, Hissowal remained unavailable for comments. He is up against sitting MLA and AAP’s Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, BJP’s Kanwar Narinder Singh and former MLA and Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine’s SR Kaler and Lok Insaaf party’s Tejinder Kaur in the constituency, which has a total of 1.84 lakh voters.