SAD in a fix over Ludhiana candidate

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, April 12

It seems that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD-B) has been resorting to a wait and watch strategy to announce its candidate for the Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress has once again fielded sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who has already commenced his poll campaign.

Former minister and spokesperson of the party Maheshinder Singh Grewal and former legislator and district president Ranjit Singh Dhillon appear to be front runners for the ticket. Names of the SAD general secretary Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia and retired bureaucrat SS Channy were also making the rounds.

The aspirants for the SAD ticket admit that the Congress candidate has got a solid head start as polls were still a month away.

The Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat usually witnesses a straight contest between the Congress and SAD with both outfits winning the seat nine and six times, respectively.

In 1989, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) candidate won the election from this segment as the Congress and SAD-B had boycotted the polls.

In the 2014 General Election, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate HS Phoolka was the runner-up and polled 25.48 per cent of the total 70.49 per cent votes. The vote share of the Congress eroded by 23.81 per cent and of the SAD-B by 16.37 per cent.

Sources said with the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) leader and PDA candidate Simarjit Singh Bains throwing his hat in the ring, the SAD-B was waiting announcement of the AAP candidate from the Ludhiana constituency.