Winning poll no cakewalk for BJP leader Joshi

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 17

Though BJP leader and Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi has managed to secure the party ticket from the Amritsar North constituency for the third consecutive term, political observers feel that despite having done a large number of development works, the election would not be a cakewalk for him, especially when many of his old friends are not much happy with him nowadays.

The Aam Aadmi Party too has given the ticket to Manish Aggarwal, once a close confidant of Anil Joshi. Aggarwal too is expected to eat into the vote share of the BJP.

Associates not too happy

BJP sources said Anil Joshi’s close associates Anuj Sikka and Pappu Mahajan too were not happy and have maintained a distance from the BJP candidate so far. Sikka is a local councillor while wife of Pappu had won as an Independent councillor by opposing BJP official candidate Sanjeev Khanna. The two had been actively working for Joshi in the previous Assembly elections.

On the other hand, the Congress seems to have managed the rebellion of ticket aspirants like Karamjit Singh Rintu, Joginder Pal Dhingra and Ashwani Kumar Pappu. The trio had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the party leadership to change the candidature of Sunil Dutti who had previously contested from the Amritsar East constituency. The way the three ticket aspirants have passed 72 hours after giving the 24- hour ultimatum indicates that they have accepted the party decision.

However, insiders maintain that the visible rift among Congress leaders had already done the damage and voters feel that they would not wholeheartedly support Sunil Dutti. In all, the election scenario in the constituency is turning with each passing days as second rung leaders continue to exchange their allegiances.