19

Mar

Punjab : Battle Lines Yet To Be Drawn   

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Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 19 March 2024

Prabhjot Singh

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More than three days after the Election Commission announced its schedule for holding elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, voters in Punjab are still waiting for the names of contestants for 13 seats to be declared.

The Aam Aadmi Party, the ruling group in this border State, has been the only outfit to name eight of its 13 candidates so far. Making a pre-poll claim of sweeping all the 13 seats, it is also taking its time to name the remaining five candidates. AAP leadership may be waiting for the other parties or its rivals, including Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, Bhartiya Janta Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), to make public names of their candidates.

Going by the “wait and watch” policy, all other major political groups have time to finalise their lists after giving a final thought to forging any alliances with other players in the field.

The only possible alliance that may be in the process of hatching is between the age-old partners – Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – who find their hands tied behind their backs by recent socio-economic developments that influenced their political actions.

The foremost is the farmer's agitation. It may be the only visible or anticipated hurdle between BJP and SAD. Both have lots at stake. While the BJP has already set a task for itself – Iss baar 400 ke paar -- SAD is fighting with its back to the wall to regain its position as the lead party. It has been through hard times in recent years and has since done whatever was expected– bringing back those who primarily revolted against one family rule.

Both BJP and SAD are clear that unless they put up a united front, defeating the AAP challenge of 13-0 may be a herculean task as the only other major political player in the State – Congress – is a fragmented house. After the possibility of an alliance between Congress and AAP was ruled out well in time, the former may still retain its credential of being the last party to name its candidates.

AAP may be coming out with its second – may be final – list soon.

BJP is also finding itself in a piquant situation. It wants to improve its all-previous tallies in Punjab by contesting more seats with an eye on bagging five to six seats in the State – an arduous or near-impossible task.

It will have many problems on its hands from within its cadre as more and more candidates are likely to come from those who defected to the Saffron group in recent years. In case the party's High Command works on the winnability formula, it may have to ignore the claims of its loyal cadre.

Going by the speculations, BJP is toying with the idea of fielding diplomat TS Sandhu from Amritsar, Perneet Kaur from Patiala and maybe one or two more from erstwhile Congressmen, it would be left with only one or two seats to adjust its cadre, including sitting MPs Som Parkash and Sunny Deol. While Sunny Deol may be safely written off, BJP would make every effort to retain its hold on the Gurdaspur seat that in between during a byelection was snatched by Congress though that conqueror is now leading the Punjab unit of the party. He may not be among the contestants this time unless the party fields him again from Gurdaspur.

All that is too complicated. This is what makes politics interesting and unpredictable (Words 600)

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