Bypoll: BJP picks Sidhu’s arch-rival

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 12

Banking on a Sikh face once again, the BJP has fielded Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. The byelection will be held on February 4 along with the Assembly poll in Punjab.  

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Capt Amarinder Singh following the SC verdict on the SYL row “in protest against the injustice meted out to the people of Punjab.”

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Chhina, a confidant of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, was the latter’s covering candidate during the 2014 elections. The Amritsar constituency, comprising nine Assembly segments, has 65 per cent Sikh voters. The constituency was represented by Navjot Singh Sidhu, then with the BJP, between 2004 and 2014. 

Chhina, who joined the BJP in 2007, was seen as Sidhu's arch-rival. When made Improvement Trust Chairman in 2009, Sidhu had left the city in a huff, saying he would not return until Chhina was "removed." 

In 2012, Chhina, a contender for the Amritsar (East) seat, was denied the ticket which was allotted to Sidhu’s wife Dr Navjot Kaur.

A BJP executive member, Chhina enjoys a rapport with the SAD leadership. He is Pro-Chancellor of Khalsa University.