After Kunwar Vijay, Rintu contender for North seat

After the AAP suspended cop-turned-MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap for five years over ‘anti-party activities’, Amritsar Improvement Trust Chairman Karamjit Singh Rintu, a former Mayor, may figure as a front-runner among all the candidates for the Amritsar North assembly constituency. He also resides in the same assembly segment. The vacuum is likely to set off a competition among several leaders to claim party representation in the next assembly election from this segment.

Irked at anti-party statements being aired on public platforms by Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh for the past few years, the party handed over halqa in-charge duties of the constituency to Rintu.

Rintu has been spearheading public campaigns of the party and the government in the constituency for some months, sending out a clear message by the party.

Manish Agrawal is another claimant as he had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly election from the Amritsar North constituency. The election was won by Sunil Dutti of the Congress while his other opponent was BJP’s Anil Joshi. Later, he remained ‘halqa in-charge’ of the Amritsar North constituency from 2017 to 2021.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior party functionary said there are several candidates but the name of Rintu carries weight and the party has been conducting its civic and anti-drug campaigns under his leadership, sending out a clear message about who is the next choice.

Three days before the Punjab assembly election, the Congress had suffered a jolt as Amritsar Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu joined the AAP in the presence of Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann in Amritsar.