Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Batala, February 25
Even as the race for the post of the first-ever mayor of Batala has intensified, caste and gender configurations have surfaced, forcing the two kingmakers — Cabinet Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar — to do a hard rethink to ensure the party does not split once the final selection is made.
Councillor from ward No. 30 Sukhdeep Singh Teja, who won by a massive margin of 2,200 votes, is the frontrunner for the post. His supporters’ confidence stems from the fact that he enjoys the unstinted support of Bajwa. Both Jakhar and Bajwa are working in tandem to arrive at a consensus candidate.
The minister is eyeing the Batala seat in the 2022 Assembly poll and one mistake here or there has the potential to upset his electoral applecart.
“Bajwa’s position is akin to a trapeze artiste. One ill-calculated move can prove to be disastrous. He knows very well that electoral politics is all about balancing the caste factors,” said a mayoral aspirant.
Sunil Sarin, a prominent Hindu face and Harinder Singh, both four-time councillors, have thrown their hats in the ring. Sarin’s visit to Chandigarh early this week where he met CM Capt Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar has the grapevine working overtime. He, however, reiterated that his Chandigarh trip had nothing to do with “his mayoral ambitions”. Harinder Singh belongs to the Ramgharia caste which has a 30,000-strong presence in the city.
“Clearly, the claims of Harinder cannot be brushed aside. Bajwa knows that if he contests the Assembly poll, under no circumstances can he ignore the Ramgharia vote bank. This brings Harinder into direct contention,” said a loyalist of the minister.
Three time ex-MLA Ashwani Sekhri is trying hard to get his sister Naveen Nayyar, a first-time councillor, into the reckoning by impressing upon the powers-that-be to allocate the top post to a woman.
Observers say it is highly unlikely that all three top posts — mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor — will be taken by male councillors. And if a woman has to be adjusted, it obviously will be Sekhri’s sister.
Caste politics at play as race for Batala mayoral post intensifies
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