7 MLAs in ticket race

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 7  

Trying to take advantage of the Congress rule in the state, party MLAs want to graduate from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to Parliament.

With still one day to go for filing applications for Cong ticket for the 13 Lok Sabha seats, at least seven sitting party MLAs have applied for it. Posing a challenge to Chief Minister’s wife Preneet Kaur, claimant for the Patiala parliamentary seat, four-time Nabha MLA Randeep Nabha, too, has staked claim for the seat.

At least 10 Youth Congress leaders, including its president Amarpreet Singh Lally, have applied for ticket for the Anandpur Sahib seat.

Seeing the preference of the Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the youth, three Cabinet ministers have made their sons apply for ticket. Mohit Mohindra, son of Brahm Mohindra, has applied for Bathinda and Gurjeet Dharamsot, son of Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, has applied for Fatehgarh Sahib. Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and his son Hira Sodhi have applied for the Ferozepur seat.

On the same lines, three MLAs have made their sons or nephew apply for ticket. Kamaldeep Brar, son of Bagha Purana MLA Darshan Brar, Jaswinder Dhiman, son of Amargarh MLA Surjit Dhiman, and Daljeet Gilzian, nephew of MLA Sangat Singh Gilzian, have applied for Congress ticket.

Till this evening, office of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) had received nearly 125 applications. There are two applications for Gurdaspur, including that of the sitting MP and PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar.

Party sources said the maximum number of applications was received for the reserved Faridkot and Fatehgarh Sahib constituencies, followed by Anandpur Sahib and Ferozepur.

SC leader too seeks ticket

Phagwara: Veteran Congress leader Joginder Singh Mann has sought party ticket from either Hoshiarpur or Faridkot. The three-time former MLA from Phagwara on Thursday met the political secretary to Chief Minister Captain Sandeep Sandhu and applied for the ticket. — OC

Father-son duo among applicants

Minister Rana Gurmit Sodhi and his son Hira Sodhi (Ferozepur); MLA Harpartap Ajnala and his son (Amritsar); Kewal Dhillon (Sangrur) and his son Karanveer Dhillon (Anandpur Sahib); Zira MLA Kulbir Zira and his father Inderjit Zira (Khadoor Sahib); Khemkaran MLA Sukhpal Bhullar’s brother Anoop Bhullar and their father Gurchet Bhullar (Khadoor Sahib)

Ex-PM’s brother for Amritsar

Surjit Singh Kohli, industrialist and brother of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, has applied for the Amritsar seat, presently represented by Gurjit Aujla.

Other ticket-seekers

Gurmel Phelwan (Ludhiana), MLA Pawan Adia (Hoshiarpur), Sushil Rinku (Jalandhar), Rakesh Pandey (Ludhiana), Parminer Dimple (Faridkot), Harpreet Sidhu (Khadoor Sahib) and Amardeep Cheema (Gurdaspur).