CHANDIGARH: 

Every other fortnight there is a new Akali candidate for Ludhiana parliamentary constituency. The latest name being circulated is that of film star Sunny Deol. His father Dharmendra was elected an MP from Bikaner constituency in 2004 on a BJP ticket. Later he opted out as he as well as the constituency got mutually disillusioned with each other.

Sunny Deol is at least the sixth name that has figured in Ludhiana as the probable Akali candidate. Other names that have been doing rounds are those of leading industrialist Kamal Oswal, former MP Amrik Singh Aliwal, Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, Atam Nagar MLA Simarjit Singh Bains and Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, the Political Advisor to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

However, the political grapevine is that the two alliance partners are not averse to swapping the two parliamentary seats of Amritsar and Ludhiana amongst themselves. Under the existing coalition arrangement Amritsar is with the BJP and Navjot Singh Sidhu is the MP there. Ludhiana is with the Akali Dal and the party virtually has no candidate to field from here.

After the last delimitation that came into force from 2009 parliamentary elections, Ludhiana has turned into an urban and Hindu dominated parliamentary constituency with six totally urban assembly segments and two semi-urban assembly segments falling under it, thus making it more to be a BJP constituency than the Akali one.

Moreover, Akali Dal has not been able to groom anyone from here and the party has changed the candidates thrice during the last three parliamentary elections held in 1999, 2004 and 2009 and are in search of the fourth. This has led to the idea of swapping the seat with the alliance partner BJP.

The other important reason behind the idea of swapping the seats is the growing ambition of the Majithia family to have control over the holy district of Amritsar. The Majithia family has not made any secret of its inclination to contest from here. Bikram Majithia’s calculated plan of ensuring the virtual flight of the BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu is being viewed in the same context. There have already been some demands that Bikram’s father Satyajit Singh Majithia be fielded from here as an Akali candidate.

Amritsar parliamentary constituency has four predominantly rural and two semi-rural assembly segments falling under it. These include Majitha represented by Bikram Majithia, which further strengthens Majithia’s claim on Amritsar parliamentary constituency. Besides, being the holy city with Darbar Sahib there, the Akalis have always felt and wanted Amritsar to be with them than with the BJP.

With changed contours and character of both Ludhiana and Amritsar swapping seems to be a strong possibility. However, much will depend on the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as whether he would like Satyajit Majithia to contest from Amritsar and give so much power to Majithia family or not, remains to be seen. As in case Satyajit Majithia gets the ticket and wins, he will be third Majithia in the Akali Dal besides his son Bikram Majithia and daughter Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who will contest from Bathinda. 

By:punjabnewsline.com