Brar vs Wadala will be repeat of 31-yr-old poll

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 16

Coming as a full circle after 31 years, it will be out of sheer circumstantial reasons that the son-in-law of former Congress minister Umrao Singh, Jagbir Brar, will be contesting against former MLA Kuldeep Singh Wadala’s son and sitting Akali MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala.

Both Kuldeep Singh Wadala and Umrao Singh had contested against one another from the same seat in 1985, with the former emerging as the winner.

Brar’s wife Ravneet Brar is the niece of Umrao Singh, who has represented this seat in 1957 and 1977 before becoming Jalandhar MP in 1993.

Brar, who has been Akali MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment and had joined the Congress just days ahead of the 2012 Assembly polls, was today shifted to Nakodar as Pargat Singh got the Cantonment ticket instead. As Brar went to see PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh, the latter convinced him to explore his in-laws’ contacts there.

Even Pargat’s father-in-law Darbara Singh has been a four-time MLA from the seat, twice on the Congress ticket and twice as an independent.