Promised Cabinet berth, new MLA Bhagat may be AAP's next blue-eyed boy from Doaba

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, July 13

The decisive victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Jalandhar West bypoll is all set to elevate brand new MLA Mohinder Bhagat to party’s new blue-eyed boy in the coming days. It is for the first time that Bhagat household erupted in celebrations of victory in the election after 2012 when Mohinder Bhagat’s father Chunni Lal Bhagat, a three time MLA from the constituency, had won the Jalandhar West poll.

The AAP’s Midas touch has resurrected the failing careers of many other party leaders who embraced the party as its candidates. Bhagat is the latest to join the club. And for his loyalty, he is expected to be amply rewarded.

Sons, grandsons, nephews, women, neighbours and even workers in the vicinity of Bhagat’s home celebrated his victory on the beat of dhol as he returned home today. He was loaded with garlands, chunars and siropas within minutes. One of the slogans which reverberated at the house was “Cabinet Minister Mohinder Bhagat”.

In the run up to the Jalandhar West bypoll, one of the prime appeals from the state CM Bhagwant Mann to the constituency residents was that if they make Bhagat win the by-election, he would be accorded a ministerial position.

With the CM’s commitment both during the campaign and after the bypoll of making Jalandhar a three-day state capital and Doaba a priority area of Punjab, the AAP also needs a potent leader as its face in the area. Majority of older ones have either left the party or are embroiled in controversies.

After he won Kartarpur election, MLA Balkar Singh had been rewarded with a Cabinet berth, but was sidelined this bypoll after his controversial video started making rounds. Former AAP MP Sushil Rinku quit the party and joined the BJP, incurring the party’s wrath. While MLA Raman Arora remains favoured within, he has also courted controversy for being the subject of Sheetal Angural’s “audio” allegations (unproven and unreleased).

In the present scenario, the AAP has found an honest Doaba politician in Bhagat who has earned the moniker of being a “Bhagat” (Saintly) candidate. He has also proven his steadfast loyalty to the party in the past one year and during the bypoll.

Bhagat’s gain is Angural’s, Rinku’s loss

Both Sheetal Angural and Sushil Rinku came under fire from the AAP with Cabinet Minister Aman Arora and Delhi Raj Sabha leader Sanjay Singh taking digs at them on Saturday. The duo, whose careers were redeemed by the AAP, incurred the greatest loss in AAP’s win today. Angural rose to be an MLA as the AAP candidate. His resignation proved to be an exceedingly unwise and career-damaging decision in the wake of the bypoll results today. Rinku, too, lost in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha poll to Congress’ Charanjit Singh Channi.