A stunning identify has sprung up from the Congress within the contest for the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat in Punjab. Former MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, who had returned to the get together from the SAD final yr, is now the Congress candidate within the constituency which is understood for high-stakes battles.
Contemplating that get together has beforehand fielded massive weapons like Captain Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh from the seat in 2009, former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal in 2014, and present Congress state chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring in 2019, Jeet Mohinder is a comparatively low-profile candidate.
Simply earlier than the 2014 parliamentary elections, Jeet Mohinder – the sitting MLA then – had resigned from the Congress in addition to his Meeting seat Talwandi Sabo and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) in a bid to strengthen the prospects of the get together’s Bathinda candidate, Harsimrat Kaur Badal within the Lok Sabha polls. He was later re-elected to the Meeting seat on an SAD(B) ticket in a bypoll held after the parliamentary elections. This was the mannequin that the BJP later adopted on a big scale to allow defections from the Congress get together throughout the nation.
Within the 2014 parliamentary polls, Harsimrat Kaur had secured the lead from the Talwandi Sabo Meeting phase beneath the Bathinda constituency with over 11,000 votes. It was an enormous lead, as she defeated her brother-in-law and Congress candidate Manpreet Singh Badal in a high-stakes battle with an general slim margin of simply 19,000 votes. The election outcomes that yr would have been totally different if Jeet Mohinder had not switched from the Congress to SAD(B) within the final hour.
The son of former IAS officer Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, who additionally acted as Punjab Public Service Commissioner, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu first contested unsuccessfully from the Talwandi Sabo Meeting constituency in 1997 on an SAD ticket. He contested as an Unbiased from the seat in 2002 and defeated the then Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi. He was then taken into the get together fold by then Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh in 2004 and received the get together ticket in 2007 from Talwandi Sabo and gained. He final gained on a Congress get together ticket in 2012 and switched to the SAD(B) in 2014.
Defeated twice from the Talwandi Sabo Meeting seat – on an SAD ticket in 2017 and 2022 – Jeet Mohinder rejoined the Congress simply 5 months in the past. He shocked many by managing to get the ticket from Bathinda from the place the get together’s main candidates like Captain Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh (2009), former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal (2014), and sitting MLA and present Congress state chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring (2019) have all unsuccessfully contested towards Harsimrat Kaur Badal. This makes Jeet Mohinder’s candidature much more difficult for the Congress.
Having gained the final two parliamentary elections in Bathinda with shut margins, the nervousness within the SAD(B) camp was palpable even because the get together withheld the announcement of its Bathinda candidate within the first checklist, particularly when it was anticipated that Harsimrat Kaur Badal was all set to contest for the fourth time in a row.
Even because it tries to recuperate from its worst part in Bathinda, the SAD(B) has a much bigger problem from the Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) which has fielded Cupboard minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian within the seat. ‘Big killer’ Khudian had defeated former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in Lambi within the 2022 Meeting polls.
Khudian, who has additionally been utilizing the picture of his father and former Akali MP Jagdev Singh Khudian to garner assist, lately visited the home of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member from Mansa, Mithu Singh Kaneke.
The BJP in the meantime is but to formally announce its candidate in Bathinda. Parampal Kaur, a former IAS officer and the daughter-in-law of SAD(B) chief and former minister Sikander Singh Maluka, has unofficially introduced that she is going to contest from Bathinda after having joined the BJP lately. Nonetheless, she too is taken into account a low-profile candidate.
A high-profile candidate from the Congress would have elevated the troubles of the SAD(B), whereas Jeet Mohinder Sidhu would first have to win over the get together staff and leaders in Bathinda earlier than taking over SAD(B) and AAP candidates. Even throughout his first innings within the Congress, Jeet Mohinder was by no means identified for cordial relations inside the get together. Since his return to the get together too, he has not been fairly as energetic. In actual fact, his greatest shot can be to only hold the Congress vote financial institution intact.
Apart from successful again a few of its votes misplaced to the AAP, the SAD(B) may also attempt to regain votes that went to the Congress within the occasion that Jeet Mohinder is unable to consolidate the identical.
Social media influencer-turned-politician Lakha Sidhana has additionally introduced that he’ll contest from Bathinda as an Unbiased candidate. The previous gangster who fought for the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) was the runner-up within the Maur seat, which falls beneath the Bathinda parliamentary constituency, within the 2022 Meeting polls with greater than 27,000 votes in his kitty.
Lakha Sidhana enjoys the assist of the SAD (Amritsar), a number of social media influencers, and a few farmer union cadres. It’s but to be seen as to how his entry will make an affect.
