With Preneet’s exit, Cong struggling to find ‘suitable’ candidate from Patiala
With sitting MP Preneet Kaur, now suspended from the party, set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, the grand old party is finding it hard to find a suitable candidate from the Patiala seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls
Chandigarh : With sitting MP Preneet Kaur, now suspended from the party, set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, the grand old party is finding it hard to find a suitable candidate from the Patiala seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Patiala seat is being represented by former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s family since 1998, and MP Preneet Kaur has won this seat four times, except in 2014.
Preneet, 79, was the face of the Congress in Patiala as Captain used to canvass across the state.
The four-time MP and a former Union minister of state for external affairs, Preneet was suspended by the Congress in February last year for helping her husband, who quit the Congress after being removed as the CM and formed the Punjab Lok Congress before merging it with the BJP.
For the Congress, former Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla is among the frontrunners for the ticket, even as octogenarian Laal Singh and ex-MLA Hardial Singh Kamboj have expressed their desire to contest the LS polls.
For Singla, it will be a homecoming as his father Sant Ram Singla remained the MP from here from 1991 to 96. After Captain joined the Congress in 1998, the Singla family was denied ticket, forcing Vijay Inder to contest from Sangrur.
Vijay Inder has a strong connect with the Hindu community and by fielding him, the Congress is hoping to make a dent in the BJP vote bank, says a party office-bearer not wishing to be named.
Though the local leadership of the Congress is backing these three candidates, the high command may spring a surprise by fielding former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu, who remained MLA and MP from Amritsar, has shifted his base back to Patiala. The local leadership is against Sidhu’s candidature even as he has not applied for the party ticket.
“We have sent names of Vijay Inder Singla, Hardial Kamboj and Laal Singh to the party high command,” confirmed a Congress functionary. He said if the party fields Sidhu, it will be the high command’s decision.
“Preneet is a strong candidate, but her popularity was dented by some of her protégés, and thus Captain Amarinder lost his bastion from the Patiala Urban seat. But as she is popular among the masses, the Congress will face a hard time to find a candidate who can give a tough fight to her,” said another party functionary on condition of anonymity.
