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Preferred over bigwigs, Congress bets big on this doctor
His candidature has upset many Congressmen, including former Union minister of state Santosh Chowdhary. Incidentally, Raj Kumar is the only sitting Congress MLA in Punjab to have been picked to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress had a big line up of aspirants who wanted to contest from Hoshiarpur reserved constituency in Doaba’s heartland but going by the internal survey reports, it zeroed in on Chabbewal MLA Raj Kumar.
His candidature has upset many Congressmen, including former Union minister of state Santosh Chowdhary. Incidentally, Raj Kumar is the only sitting Congress MLA in Punjab to have been picked to contest the Lok Sabha elections. He had joined the Congress in 2009 and using his social skills, affability and resourcefulness, made steady rise in the party ranks. In 2015, he was appointed chairman of Congress Scheduled Caste cell and later taken as member of All India Congress Committee. From political gimmickry to shedding genuine tears for the distressed, he knows it all.
His first attempt at entering the assembly in 2012 failed, but in 2017, he managed to defeat four-time MLA and cabinet minister Sohan Singh Thandal of the Akali Dal.
Raj Kumar is a qualified radiologist who runs a number of scan centres across Punjab. Just like his political trajectory, his financial rise was also meteoric given that he came from a poor family. His father had served as a peon in a bank after retiring from the Indian Army. His mother Simro Devi remained sarpanch of Manjhi.
“I had the determination to do well in life. I have worked hard to achieve whatever I have today,” he says.
Raj Kumar claims to have the support of MLAs of six segments in Hoshiarpur — Sham Churasi, Urmur, Dasuya, Mukerian and Sri Hargobindpur —, but opposition from within cannot be ruled out. Santosh Chowdhary is already weighing options of contesting as an Independent.
“It was party’s decision to give me the ticket. Had it been someone else, I would have happily campaigned for him or her. So, I request every leader and worker to support me so that our party makes a clean sweep in the state,” says Raj.
He is relying heavily on conventional and social media to reach out to the potential voters. “Presence on digital media is very important nowadays but I am trying to personally meet as many electors as possible,” he claims.
Box
Raj Kumar, 50, Congress
Seat Hoshiarpur (SC)
Educational Qualification
MD (Radiology)
Political debut
In 2012 contested from Chabbewal but lost to SAD’s Sohan Singh Thandal by a margin of 6,246 votes
Claim to fame
Only sitting Congress MLA to have been picked for the Lok Sabha elections. Coming from a humble background given that his father was a peon with a bank, Rak Kumar’s rise in business and politics has been meteoric.
