Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll: Congress nominee campaigning; AAP, BJP, SAD still searching

JALANDHAR: Even as the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal are yet to announce their candidate for the upcoming Jalandhar bypoll, the Congress candidate has already set the feet on ground and is campaigning in the constituency.
The Congress has nominated Santokh Singh Chaudhary’s widow Karamjit Kaur for the May 10 byelection. In fact, Karamjit had started her campaign even before the party officially announced her candidature on March 13.
The election, in particular, is a major challenge for the ruling AAP, which is facing its second parliamentary bypoll after coming to power last year.
For the AAP, stakes are higher than the other parties in the fray, as it has already lost Sangrur bypoll to Simranjit Singh Mann. Sangrur was considered an AAP bastion by many of the party leaders.
The AAP had last year won four out of nine assembly segments in the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency, which has traditionally been a Congress stronghold.
It is learnt that the AAP is still searching for the right candidate. The AAP believes that they would need a strong candidate to pull the tide in their favour as the situation on ground has changed a lot in the past one year. “Due to this reason, the party is looking for a prominent face,” said a source in the AAP.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife that the BJP might field former Jalandhar deputy commissioner of police Rajinder Singh, a mazhabi Sikh, for the Jalandhar seat. Rajinder Singh was inducted in the party on Saturday.
Sources in the party, however, said the BJP was keen to field a candidate from the Ravidassia community as it has a major presence in the constituency as compared to mazhabis. “We are still weighing our options,” said a senior BJP leader.
The BJP has a strong presence in three urban assembly segments of Jalandhar parliamentary seat, which it earlier contested in alliance with the SAD. However the party leaders have been claiming that they would get response from other segments also.
For the Akali Dal, it is crucial to show improvement in the byelection as Sukhbir Singh Badal wants to demonstrate that his party is on the revival path.
The party has authorised Sukhbir to finalise the candidate. Though two-time MLA Pawan Teenu’s name has been doing rounds, the SAD is yet to announce the candidate.
The SAD’s ally, Bahujan Samaj Party, also has a strong presence in the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency.