SAD candidate Rakhra faces an uphill task

Karam Prakash
Tribune News Service
Patiala, April 16

Following a poor show of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the 2017 Assembly polls and panchayat election held in December 2018, the SAD’s candidate from the Patiala constituency Surjit Singh Rakhra would be facing an uphill task to turn the tide in his favour.

Rakhra would be facing a three-time MP Preneet Kaur and incumbent Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi.

Lambasting Capt Amarinder Singh-led state government, Rakhra said the government has failed to fulfill its pre-poll promises. Numerous protests taking place here on a daily basis have turned the city into a protest capital, he said.

“In the last two years, the state has only witnessed protests and nothing else. It is an indicator of anger among the residents against the state government,” Rakhra said.

He said, “Capt Amarinder Singh neither completely waived farmer’s loans nor he solved the issue of unemployment.”

Rakhra said two conventions of the SAD chief, Sukhbir Singh Badal, in the Patiala district has boosted the morale of party workers. 

“Sukhbir’s conventions have energised the party workers. I think, workers will now come out to turn the electorate in the party’s favour,” he said.

Rakhra added that former Chief Minister and party patriarch Prakash Singh Badal would also campaign for him in the coming days. “If things go smoothly, even PM Narendra Modi might also hold a rally in Patiala.”

What political pundits say 

Political pundits said the SAD’s vote bank consists of rural voters which comprise two-third population. However, daunting defeat of the SAD supported candidates in the panchayat polls may play spoilsport. They said two-year tenure of the Congress government was too little for anti-incumbency factor.