Giant killer AAP MLA Labh Singh Ugoke's mother won't give up sweeper's job

Ugoke, March 12

Her son Labh Singh Ugoke may have shot into prominence by defeating outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from Bhadaur, Baldev Kaur isn’t ready to give up her contractual sweeper’s job at a government school.

In fact, Baldev Kaur took everyone by surprise when she reported for duty holding a broom on Friday, a day after Labh Singh had emerged as the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) giant slayer by defeating the Congress’ CM candidate by a comprehensive margin of 37,558 votes. “They all thought I won’t come for work, at least a day after my son’s victory. But I made it clear that my son has become an MLA, not me. I am still a contractual sweeper. Why should I leave my job?” she asserts, seated confidently inside her two-room tenement in the centre of the village.

Working at the school in their native Ugoke village in Barnala district for the past 22 years, she, however, is upset with the government for not regularising her services. “My case for regularisation was pushed repeatedly, but it was rejected each time,” she says.

In her late fifties, Baldev Kaur says she has categorically told her MLA son that she won’t give up her job. “I am proud of what I have been doing. My job has been a crucial source of income all this while when our family was struggling to make ends meet,” she affirms.

The family’s house is a proof enough of Labh Singh’s humble origins, on the basis of which the AAP succeeded in building a poll narrative of “real versus fake poor” against CM Channi. Baldev Kaur’s husband Darshan Singh had been a labourer all his life, but stopped working after undergoing an eye surgery recently.

“We have lived in penury all our life and seen the worst of days. I have told Labh not to forget where we belong to. He must fight for the downtrodden,” she says, her daughter-in-law Veerpal Kaur, a housewife, nodding in unison and grandsons Abhijot (10) and Armanjot (7) watching curiously.

Labh Singh’s father is happy, but apprehensive too about the future challenges. “Changing the system isn’t that easy. Punjab residents have high hopes from the AAP government. I pray for its success,” he says. Running a mobile phone repair shop in the village, the MLA wasn’t available when The Tribune visited his house on Saturday.