Poll toll: alarm bells for 14 CPSes

The Lok Sabha election results were a shocker for not only the state’s six Akali-BJP ministers but also 14 chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) on whose turf the combine lost.

The Lok Sabha election results were a shocker for not only the state’s six Akali-BJP ministers but also 14 chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) on whose turf the combine lost.

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The unfortunate CPSes are Amarpal Singh Bony (Ajnala), Inderbir Singh Bolaria (Amritsar South), Sohan Singh Thandal (Chabbewal), Chaudhari Nand Lal (Balachaur), Mantar Singh Brar (Kotkapura), Balbir Singh Ghunas (Dirbha), Mohinder Kaur Josh (Sham Chaurasi), F Nissara Khatton (Malerkotla), Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu (Amritsar East), Sarup Chand Singla (Bathinda Urban), Pawan Kumar Tinu (Adampur), KD Bhandari (Jalandhar North), Som Parkash (Phagwara) and Avinash Chander (Phillaur).

The loss of Adampur is, perhaps, the biggest embarrassment for the Shiromani Akali Dal, as sitting legislator and CPS Pawan Kumar Tinu was also Lok Sabha candidate from Jalandhar.

“Corruption, drug menace, and politician-public disconnect, besides mafia hold on sand, wine, property and transport businesses proved costly for the SAD-BJP.

Reeling under property tax, new levies and high electricity price, the public voted for change,” said a leader of the state’s ruling combine, accepting that the politicising of police also had dented the image of the government.

BJP minister Anil Joshi has handed his resignation to state party president Kamal Sharma already, while the alliance is tightlipped about the fate of the CPSes.