Doaba: In Dalit belt, Congress banking on Charanjit Singh Channi pull, Akalis BSP

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, February 18

On September 20, when the Congress played its trump card by appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as the first Dalit Chief Minister, its biggest impact came in favour of the party from Doaba.

On voter’s mind

Lack of development | Joblessness | Illegal mining | corruption | drug menace

It was being felt the Congress, which had won 15 out of 23 seats in the region in 2017, could repeat the results and the impact of SAD’s alliance with the BSP had also got somewhat negated. The impact remained there for good four months and became stronger once again in the community and the Sikhs when he took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his Ferozepur visit fiasco.

But in the past one month, the Channi factor has diminished to some extent, especially since the recovery of

Rs 8 crore from his nephew Bhupinder Honey’s place by the ED and his subsequent arrest. Even as the Congress tried to draw sympathy on the issue by starting a narrative that the BJP uses central forces to attack rivals ahead of elections, his graph somehow kept falling as his rivals continued to attack him over his repeated claim of coming from a “humble background”. The “Sada Channi” campaign did not actually take off the way as was being thought of.

His competition with PCC chief Navjot Sidhu for the CM candidature and Sidhu’s attack on the party also dented the party’s prospects. While Channi toured 16-17 seats in Doaba since the elections were announced, Sidhu visited the region just twice, that too only when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Jalandhar for a virtual rally on January 27 and Hoshiarpur on February 14.

He did not even campaign for his closest aide Pargat Singh and Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Navtej Cheema, whose candidature and victory he had announced in advance. In his absence, party’s national leaders, including Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Kanhaiya Kumar, toured Jalandhar.

If the Congress committed some mistakes, especially of repeating most candidates and not being able to quell rebellion on seats like Sultanpur Lodhi, Nawanshahr and Adampur, the AAP too fumbled along the way.

It changed seats of most candidates but fielded some rejected leaders of other parties. The allegations of selling the ticket in Doaba also caused damage to the party from which it slowly recovered as the campaign gathered pace. The party had managed to get only two seats in 2017 from the region and is expected to do certainly better this time.

The BJP, which had got a lone seat from Doaba in Phagwara, remains on a sticky wicket. Even though the PM’s rally brought a boost to its candidates, they have still not got a clear edge.

In this scenario, the Akali Dal has once again started emerging as a strong contender and is set to improve its tally from five in 2017. The rally of Mayawati in Nawanshahr had a good turnout despite Covid restrictions.

As far as the Dalit votes are concerned, there are enough indications it will split among all parties. PM Narendra Modi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and Punjab CM Channi had all gone to Varanasi on Guru Ravidas Jayanti. Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann had visited Guru Ravidas Dham in Jalandhar. Though Dera Sachkhand Ballan followers may partly support Channi, a clear message has reportedly not been sent out.

KEY SEATS

DOABA

Sultanpur Lodhi: Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh’s son Rana Inder Partap is contesting as an Independent against Congress MLA Navtej Cheema

Nawanshahr: Congress MLA Angad Singh in the fray as an Independent post the denial of ticket

Jalandhar Cantt: Minister Pargat Singh is locked in contest with SAD ex-MLA Jagbir Brar

Phagwara: SAD state chief Jasvir Garhi up against BJP ex-minister Vijay Sampla, Congress MLA BS Dhaliwal and AAP’s Joginder Mann

Bholath: Sukhpal Khaira, who remained in jail for 78 days, is taking on SGPC ex-chief Jagir Kaur

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