Days after switching from Akali Dal to the BJP, Atwal was named as the party’s candidate for Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat.
NEW DELHI: As the bypoll for Jalandhar (SC) Lok Sabha seat is nearing, all major political party candidates have started filing their nominations. Both Congress and Akali Dal have announced their old stalwarts, but AAP and BJP have given tickets to turncoats.
According to the local BJP leadership, resentment has started brewing among the local cadre after BJP named Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal as a candidate for the bypolls.
Just days after jumping from Akali Dal and joining the saffron party, Atwal was named as the party’s candidate.
Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal is the son of Akali leader and former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Charanjit Atwal. Charanjit Atwal was the SAD-BJP combine candidate from Jalandhar in 2019. After the son switched parties, father Charanjit Atwal resigned from the party’s primary membership on moral grounds. Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal was MLA from Kum Kalan Assembly from 2002 to 2007.
Many BJP workers on the ground are not happy with Atwal. “Earlier, we thought that the party will name someone who is associated with the party for a long-time like Rajesh Bagha, Vijay Sampla and Mohinder Bhagat, but the party named Iqbal. The party has stopped respecting its old leadership and workers,” a local BJP leader said.
It is also seen that Congress, Akali Dal-BSP and AAP have named candidates from the Ravidas community and Atwal belongs to the Majhbi Sikh community.
“The ground cadre is surprised with Iqbal’s candidature and they are also not working as hard as they should be, and apart from this, Akali leaders who are now given preference, do not enjoy a good relationship with BJP workers,” a BJP leader from Punjab said.
Earlier also, The Sunday Guardian reported that resentment has started brewing in the BJP cadre after leaders from Akali Dal and Congress are joining BJP. The Jalandhar by-poll will be the second test for BJP before the 2024 general election. Last year, the BJP, after parting ways with Akali Dal, fought the Lok Sabha election for the Sangrur bypoll, but lost the seat.
The Jalandhar seat fell vacant after the sudden death of sitting Member of Parliament and Congress leader Santokh Chaudhry, while Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was in Jalandhar.
Jalandhar is also considered a Congress bastion. Since 1999, Congress has been winning the Jalandhar Lok Sabha. The deceased Santokh Choudhry won this seat twice in 2014 and 2019.Congress has named Santokh Chaudhry’s wife Karamjit Kaur, AAP has given the ticket to Congress turncoat Sushil Rinku, ex-MLA from Jalandhar (west), who joined AAP 24 hours before and was given a ticket, and Akali Dal-BSP gave a ticket to Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, MLA from Banga. A year before the general elections, the Jalandhar bypoll is seen as a litmus test for all major political parties in the state.