In Punjab’s Patiala — the home town of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh — the Congress candidate, former Union Minister Preneet Kaur, is embroiled in a battle to reclaim the party’s lost turf as the seat is set for a triangular electoral contest in the upcoming parliamentary poll slated for May 19.
Ms. Kaur, wife of Capt. Amarinder, tasted bitter defeat at the hands of Aam Aadmi Party’s Dharamvira Gandhi in 2014 Lok Sabha poll; Mr. Gandhi had won the Patiala seat by a margin of around 21,000 votes. Ms. Kaur had won from Patiala on the previous three occasions — in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
On Friday, her husband accompanied Ms. Kaur as she filed her nomination papers for the electoral contest. Patiala, which has traditionally seen a fight between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal, this time is witnessing a triangular contest with Mr. Gandhi, the AAP rebel, fighting as a joint candidate of the Punjab Democratic Alliance. The Akali Dal has announced former Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra as its candidate.
Ms. Kaur expressed confidence that the Congress will register an impressive win not just in Patiala but across Punjab. “There is no Modi or Sukhbir Badal wave and Congress is set to win across the State. The mood in Punjab was completely changed from what it was in 2014,” she told reporters.
“The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has failed to keep its promises. The Congress, on the other hand, has been working for the development of Punjab and people are appreciating the good work,” she added. At her meetings and rallies, Ms. Kaur has been targeting the SAD-BJP for their “misrule” in the State during their 10-year-long regime.
Mr. Rakhra, the Akali Dal candidate, also filed his nomination and hit out at the Congress, alleging that “empty promises” by the ruling Congress have exposed the party. He said that the Congress government in the State has “betrayed” the people as promises made by the party during the 2017 Assembly election campaign have not been fulfilled.
Grassroots campaign
Mr. Gandhi, the sitting MP, who had floated his own political outfit, Nawan Punjab Party, had filed his nomination on Thursday and has started a door-to-door campaign instead of focusing on big rallies to garner votes.
“People have seen my work and now they can compare it with that of previous MPs,” Mr. Gandhi told The Hindu.
The AAP candidate, Neena Mittal, has also filed her nomination from Patiala.