Sarabjit’s sister in race for BJP ticket from Sirsa seat

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26

Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit Singh who died in a Pakistan jail in 2013, is in race for the BJP ticket from the Sirsa parliamentary seat in Haryana. Kaur, talking to The Tribune, said: “In the past one month, I have met senior BJP leaders, including state president Subhash Barala. If given a chance, I am sure I will win the election.” 

Barala too said Kaur had expressed her keenness to contest from Sirsa. “It is up to the central leadership to take a call. We have already submitted our panels from each of the 10 parliamentary constituencies to the central election committee,” he said. He refused to confirm or deny whether Dalbir Kaur’s name figured on the panel, citing confidentiality. Kaur, grew close to the BJP in 2005 when she launched a struggle to get her brother out of jail and joined the saffron party on December 25, 2016.

“Even before joining the BJP, I was close to senior party leaders and had campaigned in Barala, a Tohana Assembly segment, Fatehabad in 2014,” Kaur said.

The Tohana Assembly segment is a part of the Sirsa parliamentary seat. In the 2014 Assembly polls, it  was the only seat won by the BJP with the rest of eight seats going to the INLD. Kaur’s brother Sarabjit Singh was convicted for terrorism and spying by a Pakistan court and sentenced to death in 1991. His execution was stayed for an indefinite period in 2008. He died in the Lahore jail in April 2013 after being attacked by fellow inmates.

A Hindi movie, ‘Sarbjit’, was made on Sarabjit Singh and Dalbir Kaur, which made her a celebrity of sorts. Though hailing from Bhikhiwind village in Tarn Taran, Kaur has chosen Sirsa because it has a large Punjabi/ Sikh population. Sirsa is represented by Charanjit Singh Rori of the INLD.

Among others believed to be in the race for the Sisa seat are former IRS officers Sunita Duggarand V Kamraja, minister Krishan Bedi and Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans.