No ‘son’rise yet for Chaudhary family

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 12

Despite desperate efforts to get the ticket, it seems lady luck has not favoured former Punjab Youth Congress leader and PPCC general secretary Vikramjit Chaudhary. Son of Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, Vikramjit (39) was denied the ticket by the Congress as his mother, Karamjit Chaudhary, was today declared the party candidate from Phillaur.

In 2014 general elections, he had claimed the ticket from Jalandhar which was given to his father Chaudhary Santokh Singh. Earlier too, he had made a claim to the Assembly ticket from Phillaur in 2012.

A former government college lecturer, Karamjit had retired as DPI (colleges) few years back. She was the principal at Government Sports and Arts College in Jalandhar.

Sources close to the family said that the ticket had brought no excitement to the family which had been waiting for their son to rise politically. Even as the family is very media-savvy and everyone reverts to phone calls instantaneously, none of the three family members have given any response to calls or messages since the last evening as the word had begun spreading.

Grandson of former minister Master Gurbanta Singh, Vikramjit Chaudhary had been going door to door since the first week of October last year organising a ‘Chetna Yatra’ in Phillaur. Ever since PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh, during a press conference three months back in Jalandhar, formally said that MP’s son could get an Assembly ticket in the party (clarifying on one family-one ticket norm), Vikramjit had become all the more confident.

Quite hopeful for the son, Chaudhary Santokh Singh had even recently doled out a larger share of grants from his MPLADS funds for the Phillaur Assembly segment. Vikramjit has been staying in Delhi since November, coming back for days in between which he spends in Phillaur. The family did not recently like the joining of Akali minister and six-time MLA Sarwan Singh Phillaur into the party fold and had been considering him a competitor in the ticket race.

Party insiders, however, have said, “The reports of Vikramjit’s over-confident body language had worked against him.”

Valmiki factor balanced

The party today, somehow, drew balance in allotment of tickets on Dalit seats. As tickets were announced for two Valmiki leaders - former Hoshiarpur Improvement Trust Chairman Pawan Adia from Sham Chaurasi and ex-minister Joginder Mann from Phagwara- and two for Ravidassia community - Karamjit Chaudhary and MS Kaypee from Adampur- the matter between the two communities is somewhat settled in Doaba.