No SAD, Congress names for Patiala yet, but Preneet Kaur and Surjit Rakhra tour constituency

PATIALA: The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are yet to announce candidates from Patiala parliamentary seat, but former Union minister Preneet Kaur and former SAD minister Surjit Singh Rakhra have started touring the constituency, indicating that their names have been cleared by their respective parties.

While Preneet is visiting the pockets having Congress vote bank, Rakhra has started reaching out to party workers and supporters. On Saturday, Preneet held a number of meetings in Samana, which at present is represented by Congress MLA Kaka Rajinder Singh, who is the son of veteran Congress leader Lal Singh.

Rakhra was seen meeting his party supporters in Nabha, which is represented by Congress cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. Poll analysts said Preneet has an eged over Rakhra in most assembly constituencies represented by Congress MLAs. Chief minister Amarinder Singh recently held a meeting with party MLAs and zonal incharges from Patiala, and asked them to put their best step forward to ensure a win for the Congress.

Rakhra, who is still not vocal about his candidature from Patiala, said he was trying to consolidate the party’s base in Patiala in view of the elections. However, party insiders said his candidature was nearly final.

Preneet, at her gatherings, attacked the SAD-BJP government which ruled the state for 10 years, describing the two consecutive terms as “misrule which had brought the state to the brink of financial emergency”. She also claimed that Punjab’s economy had been put back on the track during the two years of Congress rule.

Rakhra, on the other hand, attacked the Congress government in the state, claiming that failed to fulfil a single promise made in the 2017 poll manifesto. “People are still dying due to drug overdose, farmers are committing suicides, and the agricultural crisis has only deepened in the last two years,” he said.

Outgoing MP Dharamvira Gandhi, who is the Punjab Democratic Alliance’s nominee from Patiala, is building his campaign around the works carried out by him in the past five years. “People have come a long way from the politics of lies and they now have access to the parliamentary records to see which MP did what for his constituency,” he said. Gandhi is also picking holes in the SAD and the Congress, claiming that both these parties failed to protect the interests of the state.