20 years on, Amritsar continues to elect MPs for Opposition

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 23

Since 1999, Amritsar residents have chosen MPs having allegiance to the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. This time, Amritsar once again elected a member of the Parliament, who will sit in the Opposition. Gurjeet Singh Aujla won with a significant margin of almost one lakh by defeating Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

Puri had pointed out during his campaign that if he wins the elections, the party will award him some major ministry at the Centre and he will be able to release funds for the development of the constituency.

Last time in 2014, Arun Jaitley made the same promise but the residents of Amritsar rejected him, electing Capt Amarinder Singh. Jaitley had become Minister of Finance and Corporate Affair in the Central Government but Amritsar did not get any major benefit.

The public thinks that this factor takes its toll on the development of the holy city. “Unfortunately, the governments have the policies to issue development funds only to those MPs which are associated with the ruling party. We should respect the verdict of the people as they can elect anyone. The political parties should change such an approach and issue funds to the MPs from the Opposition parties for development,” said Advocate Kuljit Singh, a political expert.

From 1999 to 2004, Ragunandan Lal Bhatia of the Congress representing the constituency in the BJP’s Vajpayee government. In 2004, the city elected the then BJP leader, Navjot Singh Sidhu, but the Congress returned to power at the Centre. Navjot Singh Sidhu was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009, but the Congress once again was able to form its government under the leadership of Manmohan Singh.

In 2014, Amritsar elected Capt Amarinder Singh, defeating Arun Jaitley, but Narendra Modi formed the NDA government at the Centre. Gurjeet Singh Aujla made it to the Lok Sabha in the 2017 bypoll. Now, once again the NDA has got a thumping majority.