Gurdaspur Diary: More the merrier for poll candidates

Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi, the AAP nominee from Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency, surely knocked the living daylights out of his opponents when it came to the numbers game. In Gurdaspur, it has become a fad of sorts for candidates to bring a large number of vehicles when they go to file their nominations. The more the number of cars, the more powerful you are. In fact, the stature of a candidate is measured from the number of four-wheelers he manages to bring to the office of the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer where nominations are filed. This trend started in 1998 when superstar Vinod Khanna contested the polls for the first time. He not only pushed into action more than 200 cars but to top it all, they were driven by top Bollywood stars. Sherry Kalsi is definitely ahead of everyone else in this numbers game. He led a cavalcade of 400 cars when he filed his papers. A fortnight later, he again brought an equal number of vehicles to a rally held in Kalanaur which CM Bhagwant Mann was to address. It is another matter that the CM never turned up as he had to rush to Delhi after Kejriwal was given bail by a court. BJP candidate Dinesh Babbu, too, arrived at the DC office in such a manner. His aides admit that they had brought one vehicle more than what Kalsi had managed. That is a story for some other day. But it will be only on June 4 when the world will know who worked the hardest, irrespective of how many cars he managed.

Babbu plans all out offensive

Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create. This was precisely what the BJP nominee Dinesh Babbu had in mind after agitating farmers stopped his campaign in Fatehgarh Churian, Dera Baba Nanak and Qadian. These are seats where the presence of the farming community is strong. Babbu stopped visiting these areas and instead went back to the drawing board to rejig his plans. Ex-Pathankot Mayor Anil Vasudeva helped him in this endeavour. Just focus on your strengths and ignore your weak points, Babbu was told. Consequently, he started touring areas which had earlier remained untouched. These are the Hindu dominated seats of Bhoa, Pathankot and Sujanpur. Reports have it that Babbu has managed to build up a strong rapport with the voters in these areas. Meanwhile, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar filed a petition with the Chief Election Officer (CEO) alleging that farmers were not allowing his candidates to campaign freely. Following this, the CEO asked the district officials to maintain law and order. This development acted as a catalyst for Babbu to put his campaign in the fast forward mode. He has now made plans to visit the areas which were out of bounds for him due to the protesting farmers. The shackles from his feet have been removed as Babbu now plans to launch an all out offensive. (ravi dhaliwal)