Three time councillor jumps into poll battle

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 19

Sanjeev Talwar, a Congress candidate from Ludhiana East constituency, will knock every door to interact personally with voters. If anyone is left out, his family would do the needful. 

After much hullabaloo over the allotment of ticket for Ludhiana East constituency, Sanjeev Talwar won the race leaving behind party frontrunner and former Union Minister Manish Tewari. Three times councillor, Sanjeev has literally won the battle for ticket and now it is to be seen if he's able to win the election despite the prevalence of anti-incumbency factor.

Talwar is a businessman, director of Sava Spinners (Spinning Mills), owns Krishna filling station and a marriage palace and is a real-estate adviser as well.

Talwar, when asked how he would tackle the anti-incumbency factor in his constituency as several leaders of Manish Tewari faction may not run shoulder to shoulder with him, he said yesterday there was a tussle between him and Tewari over the ticket and now that the ticket had been allotted to him, all party leaders would definitely abide by the high command directions to support the party candidate.

If there was any incumbency factor in the constituency, there would have been nominations by Congress leaders as independents, but no one filed any such nomination, Talwar said. "I have now started meeting all leaders irrespective of the faction they belong to. Many have signalled support to me," he said.

He said there were 12 wards in his halqa and he would conduct big rallies in all wards to apprise residents about the development agenda of the Congress. 

While talking about his priorities, he said: "Many areas in the East constituency are devoid of basic amenities such as sewerage, potable water supply, concrete roads, streetlights etc. My first priority will be to provide basic amenities to residents. If I'll be voted to power, I will remain accessible to each and every resident 24×7. Even when I was not an MLA, I tried fulfilling my responsibility by helping people in all situations and providing solution to their issues." 

Interestingly, Congress leader Gurmel Singh Pehalwan, who had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections from Ludhiana East, wanted a ticket this time as well, but was denied, has turned into a rebel and is contesting as an Independent now. He may dent the vote bank of Talwar. Sources said the Congress leadership is reportedly trying hard to convince Gurmel to withdraw his candidature.