The hand needs a firm grip

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7

As the New Year’s Day dawned in 2012, the Congress looked forward to a new dawn in Punjab. Banking on anti-incumbency and positive surveys, the opposition party assumed that a victory in the Assembly elections was a foregone conclusion. Complacency crept in, ticket allotment was messed up, and the Akali-BJP alliance was again voted to power. Over 30 rebels ate into the party’s vote share, while Manpreet Badal’s People’s Party of Punjab played spoilsport too.

Five years down the line, the Congress finds itself in an uncannily similar situation. Barely four weeks are left for polling, but candidates for 40 seats are yet to be announced. The delay in ticket allotment has slowed down the party’s campaign at a time when it should have picked up pace.

While the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party are going all out in the electoral arena, the Congress is busy dousing the bush fires of rebellion, triggered by the release of its two lists for 77 seats.

So, is the party going the 2012 way? “The Congress is walking on the crutches of media strategist Prashant Kishor, who is lording it over the leaders as if they have never fought any election,” says former senior party leader Bir Devinder Singh, who was expelled for questioning the leadership of PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh. He rues that the party has failed to keep its word on announcing candidates six months before the poll.

Ludhiana-based political observer Gurpreet Singh Mandiani says the Congress’ strength lies in Amarinder, who is known for aggressively taking on the Badals. He doesn’t look his belligerent self this time, but the former CM is still the best bet for the party that has been out of power in the state for the past decade.

A senior party leader, who doesn’t wish to be quoted, says: “The PPCC chief needs to take along his predecessors, some of whom have been pushed out of the frame by him. By imposing the ‘one family, one ticket’ rule, he has targeted stalwarts such as Lal Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Partap Singh Bajwa. He and the party’s MPs are not on the same page over preferring turncoats to own leaders. This has made them his adversaries.”

The “outsider versus insider” debate has reached a crescendo in recent months after the induction of Akali MLAs Pargat Singh, Inderbir Bolaria and Sarwan Singh Phillaur and BJP legislator Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu. Senior MPs such as Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo have put their foot down, opposing the candidature of defectors, thus holding up the final list. Despite the discord, Akali-turned-PPP chief-turned-Congress leader Manpreet Badal has been fielded, while former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu is set to spice up the proceedings as the party's star campaigner.

Amarinder feels there’s nothing alarming about dissidence. “Everyone can’t be given the ticket. We will accommodate the unsuccessful applicants, provided they support the party candidates,” he promises.

On the “so near yet so far” story of 2012, he says 37 rebels fought against the party candidates, damaging their prospects. According to him, these nominees were picked without his consent. But he hastens to add that he’s firmly in the driver’s seat this time.

Wary of the rumblings, the party’s think tank has made the campaign Amarinder-centric, coming up with “Coffee with Captain” and “Punjab da Captain” programmes and promising sops such as loan waiver for farmers and free smartphones. 

The Congress is again factoring in anti-incumbency to turn the tables on the Akalis. But it can’t afford to dream of getting power on a platter. The national party needs to get its act together in the state — before it’s too late.