Manpreet Singh Badal may be BJP’s pick for Bathinda Lok Sabha seat

NEW DELHI: Former Congress leader Manpreet Singh Badal, who joined the BJP on 18 January, might be BJP’s pick for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Bathinda constituency.
The former Finance Minister of Punjab and estranged cousin of Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal, Manpreet Singh Badal joined BJP in the national capital in presence of leaders like Union minister Piyush Goel and BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh. Manpreet’s entry into the saffron party came at a time when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was in Punjab.
For the last three terms, since 2009, Bathinda Lok Sabha is represented by Harsimrat Kaur Badal and it is also known as an Akali Dal bastion. In 2014, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and her brother-in-law Manpreet Badal were competing for the seat. Manpreet Singh Badal was the candidate from the People’s Party of Punjab and Congress coalition and lost the seat with a margin of 19,395 votes. In the last 2019 elections, Harsimrat Kaur Badal was in a direct fight with Congress candidate Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, but the Congress was defeated with a margin of 21,722 votes. The People’s Party of Punjab was a splinter party formed by Manpreet Singh Badal in 2011 after a dispute broke out between the Badal family. The PPP had a non-impressive performance in the 2012 Assembly elections and later, it collated with INC for the 2014 general elections; later in 2016, it merged with INC. It would be the first time BJP will field candidates on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state after Akali Dal broke ties with the saffron party in 2020. But it is a tough road for Manpreet Singh Badal because BJP is also facing factionalism after it brought leaders from other parties. When Manpreet Singh Badal joined BJP, he was verbally attacked by district Bathinda BJP president Saroop Chand Singla. “Mr Singla should have used the party platform to discuss their grievances and should not go openly,” a BJP leader from Bathinda said. Various reports also suggest that local leaders of the party were not kept in the loop, while Manpreet Singh Badal joined the saffron party. Party’s national leadership played an important role in the induction of Badal.
It was also seen that Manpreet Singh Badal stayed away from the important meeting held in Bathinda on 24 January, chaired by Punjab in-charge and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The meeting was called to chalk out plans for the Bathinda Lok Sabha elections. Garnering support from local BJP leadership, and keeping his old loyalists from Congress and Akali Dal in the loop are some challenges for the influential Badal family leader.