In Ludhiana’s Atam Nagar, it’s a multi-cornered contest between former allies

In battleground Atam Nagar, which is marked as a sensitive segment in view of the constant flare-ups between supporters of various political groups, the five prominent contestants have past associations with each other.

Once a stronghold of Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) president Simrajit Singh Bains and Congress candidate Kamaljit Singh Karwal, Atam Nagar is now tied in a multi-cornered contest with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s Harish Rai Dhanda, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Kulwant Sidhu and Punjab Lok Congress (PLC)-Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prem Mittal are emerging as strong contenders. Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) has fielded Harkirat Singh Rana.

Bains, Karwal and Dhanda have remained in the SAD together before Bains and Karwal quit the party and Bains got elected as an independent MLA in the 2012 assembly elections. At the time, Karwal was a close aide of Bains. But in 2015, the two parted ways following a rift and Karwal joined the SAD again. A year later, in 2016, Bains formed the LIP.

Dhanda, meanwhile, had quit politics in 2014 and rejoined SAD in 2019.

Karwal, who had rejoined the SAD in 2015, quit the party again, and crossed over to the Congress in 2016. AAP candidate Sidhu was also in the Congress at the time. The two served the grand old party for around five years but remained at loggerheads, which was heightened by the fact that Congress chose Karwal over Sidhu during the 2017 assembly elections.

On the other hand, former SAD Mansa MLA Prem Mittal who was named the PLC candidate from Atam Nagar on Sunday, has also been a part of LIP in the past. Mittal, who is also a former senior deputy mayor of the city, joined Bains’ party in 2018 and his son Jai Krishan Mittal also contested municipal elections in 2018 on a LIP ticket.

Mittal then jumped ship to join Congress in April 2019, only to desert the party and join hands with former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s PLC.

Regardless of the past associations, the five leaders are now seen lambasting each other over issues including corruption, hooliganism, failure to take up development projects etc.

Due to repeated incidents of violence between their supporters, the segment was declared ‘sensitive’. On January 19, three persons, including Bains’ brother Paramjeet Singh alias Pamma, got injured in a clash between supporters of Karwal and Bains over installation of hoardings on Gill road. Just two days later, AAP candidate Sidhu accused Bains’ son, Ajaypreet, and his supporters of roughing up an AAP worker over installation of hoardings at a building on ATI Road. AAP had lodged a police complaint in this regard, but Bains had refuted the claims as baseless.

Flag march conducted

With nominations beginning from Tuesday, returning officer Poonampreet Kaur, along with police officials, conducted a flag march in the vulnerable areas of the assembly segment on Monday.

Kaur also took stock of security arrangements and barricading at the nomination venue - municipal corporation’s Zone-C office on Gill road.