Flip-flops by political leaders make Lok Sabha polls interesting, confusing

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, May 23

Defections on a large scale by second rung leaders of political parties have not only confused their supporters and voters but also made the contest perplexing with people finding it difficult to remember which leader belongs to which party.

For instance, take the case of Talbir Singh Gill, a close confidant and right hand man of SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia until recently. Gill is presently with the Aam Aadmi Party. Talbir had contested from Amritsar South assembly seat in 2022.

Further back, SAD candidate from the same constituency Gurpartap Singh Tikka has presently chosen to adorn saffron and is supporting BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Go further back in time and you will find that SAD MLA from the same seat, Inderbir Singh Bolaria, is presently with the Congress. Perhaps SAD was unlucky in its choice of candidates for the assembly seat as the last three candidates have shifted their allegiance to other parties.

Though it would seem that SAD had suffered the maximum due to large-scale defections by its leaders, it would be interesting to note that its candidate from here, Anil Joshi is a former BJP leader and Cabinet minister. While the BJP has many leaders from here who either served in the party at higher positions or were nominated to the Upper House, Joshi was the only leader who had a mass base and had won an election other than that of MC councillor.

Then comes Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lali Majithia, who had contested against Majithia for most of his political career. Lali had shifted to AAP in 2022 elections and contested from Majithia. Presently, he has shifted to SAD.

Interestingly, a former SAD district president Upkar Singh Sandhu, who left the party to join AAP, then left AAP to join the Congress, has now left the Congress and is supporting SAD (Amritsar) led by Simranjit Singh Mann. And all this happened within a span of nine years.

Perhaps political ideologies and ideological differences are a thing of the past. And well, anything can happen, after all its politics!