Khemkaran slowly warming up to AAP

Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, February 13

Khemkaran — the land of brave men — reminds us of the rich religious, cultural, historical heritage of the nation and the Punjabi way of life. It also teaches us the lesson of communal harmony and the spirit of nationalism. Before the Partition, most of the villages of the area were trade centres of daily useable articles and farmer products. The Khalra grain market was once known for red chilli in Asia.

Dall, Ghariala, Khemkaran, Khalra and other villages, where Hindu shrines are situated, are common religious places of devotion for all communities. The religious place, known as ‘Shekh Braham’, too, falls in the constituency, where devotees from Pakistan are also allowed to pay their respect. It is supervised by the local committee and the BSF.

Land of heroes

• In the 2017 elections, Sukhpal Singh Bhullar won the election with 64,666 votes leaving behind his rival Virsa Singh of SAD, who polled 47,611 votes.
• There are total 14 candidates in the fray, but the main three are Sukhpal Singh Bhullar (Congress), Virsa Singh Valtoha (SAD) and Sarwan Singh Dhunn of the (AAP).
• Other candidates in the fray are are Daljit Singh Gill of SAD Sanyukt, Surjit Singh Bhura of SSM and Independents Ajay Kumar, Inderjit Singh, Shingara Singh, Harpal Singh, Surjit Singh, Jaimal Singh, Pawan Kumar, Angrej Singh and Gursharan Singh

A number of Sikh shrines having good number of followers, too, are in the area. It is also the land of brave heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country. In Assal Uttar village, residents pay tribute to brave Abdul Hameed, the hero of 1965 Indo-Pak war on September 9 every year.

From Khemkaran, the Congress and SAD used to represent turn by turn, but in 1992, the SAD boycotted the election. It was Virsa Singh Valtoha of SAD who won from here in 2007 and 2012 twice, but lost in 2017 to Congress candidate Sukhpal Singh Bhullar. Gurchet Singh Bhullar, father of Sukhpal Singh, represented this constituency in 1982 and 1992, but lost the 1997 election.

Previously, this constituency was named Valtoha, but in the delimitation process, its name was changed to Khemkaran.

There are total 14 candidates in the fray, but the main three are Sukhpal Singh Bhullar (Congress), Virsa Singh Valtoha (SAD) and Sarwan Singh Dhunn of the (AAP).

Sukhpal Singh Bhullar is currently representing the constituency, while Virsa Singh represented the constituency twice (in 2007 and 2012). Sarwan Singh Dhunn is in politics since 2013.

Bhullar was Congress’ choice at the 11th hour. His name was declared in the last list, but by then, a remarkable number of prominent leaders and workers were lured by others parties into their fold.

His father Gurchet Singh Bhullar, a former minister, too, was in the line of ticket aspirants. He had the backing of his elder son Anoop Singh Bhullar, who is Zila Parishad member. The family conflict came out in the open during the campaigning too. Sukhpal Singh is facing revolt by party’s second rung leaders as well. Though he is working hard to fill the huge gap, as his campaigning started late, the effect is still not visible. No senior party leader has so far come to campaign in his favour till date. Though he had done a number of development works, residents are raising a question mark on the quality, particularly on his behaviour. Residents said it was due to this reason that the party high command was seriously thinking about changing the ‘guard’ from the constituency.

Virsa Singh Valtoha, the SAD candidate, along his son Gauravdeep Singh Valtoha and other relatives are busy canvassing day and night in the constituency. He knows all voters of his constituency by name, even though their number crosses 2 lakh. He remained with the residents of the constituency the whole time even though he lost the election in 2017.

AAP candidate Sarwan Singh Dhunn has, meanwhile, garnered a good support among residents. The visit of party CM face Bhagwant Mann, who is a Lok Sabha MP, helped him in sending out the message to people to vote for ‘change’. Dhunn started his political career by joining SAD first and then skipped over to the Congress. In the 2017 election, he joined the AAP. He entered in the list of first three possible winning candidates.

Daljit Singh Gill of SAD Sanyukt is also active in the area, as he is the former SGPC member. Surjit Singh Bhura of SSM in his own style of canvassing is dependent on door-to-door interaction. Sikh psyche dominates in the area.