Bathinda, January 20
Even as several Congress leaders, who were aspiring for the party ticket for the February 13 Assembly poll in Punjab, have still been camping in Delhi with the hope that lady luck may smile on them if any change in the list is carried out by the selection committee, the General Secretary, AICC and incharge of the Punjab Congress affairs, Mr Moti Lal Vora, has categorically said that no change will be made in the names of candidates announced for the coming Assembly elections.

Talking to TNS from Delhi this morning, Mr Vora said all aspirants for the ticket had been asked to go back to their respective areas to support the official candidates to ensure their victory.

A section of senior leaders, including some MPs and former ministers, are still not available for the campaign of the official candidates of the party despite the fact that only 23 days are left for the poll. On the other hand, the SAD-BJP candidates have started their campaign in almost all Assembly segments and the Punjab Chief Minister and President of the SAD, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has been addressing rallies every day in all parts of the state.

Due to the absence of senior leaders from the campaign some candidates, who are new to the area or little known in any Assembly segment, have been finding it difficult to reach out to the voters. In certain Assembly segments, committed Congress workers have not jumped into the election battle fully as a section of them have been feeling that the party high command might carry out some change in the list of official candidates.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that though the PPCC President, Capt Amarinder Singh, who enjoyed a free hand in the selection of candidates and managed to get the ticket for many of his loyalists, also rushed to Delhi yesterday evening to discuss the manifesto and the charge sheet to be issued against the SAD-BJP government in Punjab, a section of the party rank and file is thinking that some changes will be discussed with him by the party high command.

On the other hand, some candidates, who are new to the Assembly segments from where they have been allotted the ticket to contest the coming Assembly elections, have managed to get huge local support by removing the irritant of “outsider”, which has been working against them.

Mr Surinder Singla, a former MP and spokesperson for the AICC, who has been fielded from the Bathinda Assembly segment, has managed to carry along almost the entire Congress rank and file with him for his campaign which has been picking up with each passing day. Mr Singla, who is known as an eminent economist and policy-maker for development, is in an upbeat mood. He was given a warm welcome on the outskirts of this city and was brought into the party office in a huge procession on January 16, when he entered this Assembly segment, by the party rank and file.

Political observers feel that Mr Kulwant Rai Aggarwal, a senior Congress leader in the district, who has announced that he will contest as an Independent candidate, may cause more damage to the sitting MLA and SAD-BJP alliance candidate, Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, than the Congress candidate, Mr Surinder Singla, as Mr Aggarwal commands a considerable influence among a section of agriculturists, who are considered to be traditional vote-bank of the Akalis.

Mr Vora said the party had decided that efforts should be made to persuade rebels who had jumped into the election arena against the official candidates not to contest as Independent candidates.