Amritsar LS Polls: Chhina leads the Race for BJP Ticket, announcement anytime

Punjab News Express
AMRITSAR: With the Congress and Aam Adami Party (AAP) declaring candidates for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, the other major player Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to announce its candidate shortly. There are more than four names doing the rounds for the BJP-SAD alliance ticket which include film actress Poonam Dhillon, local prominent Sikh face Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, apart from former Punjab Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi and Union Minister Hardip Puri.

Chhina seems to be leading the race for the ticket though recently the reports suggests that Jagdish Kaur, a 1984' victim in Delhi had also been approached by the party for the candidature. The lobbying for the ticket has hot up and party might zero in on a local face as the citizens vouch for a local leader over a celebrity face.

The rash of ‘non-political’ candidates in the fray going by the candidate lists being considered by BJP so far actors, cricketers and celebrities- is perhaps unprecedented. Doubtless, political parties routinely place their bets on celebrities for their star appeal to win elections but this time around, they clearly looks hinting their preference for a local face from Amritsar.

An able administrator, clean political leader Chhina who is considered close to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and even PM Narendra Modi had lost 2017 by polls of the Lok Sabha to Congress’s Gurjit Aujla due to the 10 years long anti-incumbency factor of the then SAD BJP alliance government in the state. He had claimed the ticket for a yet another chance to and thus has emerged as front runner for this candidature.

Chinna, who has been active in the BJP for the past several years, is a member of national BJP Manifesto panel- 2019 and his popularity in both the BJP-dominated urban segments and SAD-dominated rural segments, makes him most likely to be fielded for the Amritsar seat. He can be a fulltime worker as well as politician for the larger interests of the party and residents of Amritsar parliamentary constituency owning to his demographic favorability factor along with his long administrative acumen.

On the other hand Poonam Dhillon though had been a popular public face, is currently active in Maharashtra unit of BJP and will be treated as outsider while Hardip Puri has reportedly told the party high command that he was happy with the Rajhya Sabha membership the tenure of which will last four more years. The newly Sikh leader Harinder Singh Khalsa, former AAP MP, had also visited Amritsar recently sparking speculations of his candidature but the caste affiliations and outsider’s tag is going contrary to him.

Amritsar seat has always seen 'clash of titans' for the Lok Sabha seat and it being a farmer dominated constituency, an outside face would fail to build a rapport with the rural segments, says party sources. Punjab BJP chief Shawet Malik meanwhile has recently stated that there are more than four claimants for the tickets and the party wil soon make announcement to declare its candidate.