Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, January 27
The Congress’ dilemma in key seats of Patiala, Nawanshahr, Barnala and Khem Karan continued on Thursday with the announcement of eight pending candidates for the February 20 Punjab elections delayed yet again.
Top AICC sources said former minister Lal Singh, senior minister Brahm Mohindra and former Patiala Mayor Vishnu Sharma continued to be on the panel of probable candidates for Patiala Urban, which former CM Capt Amarinder Singh currently represents.
Although Lal Singh and Mohindra were seen as suitable candidates in the segment, the party has to decide whether to bend the ‘one family, one ticket’ rule for this “unique seat”. The sons of both Lal Singh and Mohindra have already been fielded. While Mohit Mohindra has been named from Patiala Rural (Brahm Mohindra’s current seat), Lal Singh’s son Rajinder Singh, the sitting MLA from Samana, has been re-nominated.
Asked whether the party has not already bent this rule by fielded both former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and her son-in-law Vikram Bajwa, sources said, “You cannot penalise someone for marrying into a political family. Vikram Bajwa has his own politics and could not have been denied the ticket just because he married the former CM’s daughter.”
AICC’s Punjab in-charge Harish Chaudhary and screening panel chairman Ajay Maken will meet again tomorrow to take the call on whether to relax the ‘one family, one ticket’ rule for Patiala and the list is likely to be released on Friday.
Earlier, the Congress denied ticket to CM Charanjit Channi’s brother from Bassi Pathana and the sons of ministers Rana Gurjeet and Tript Bajwa.
In Barnala, the party remains divided between fielding former MLA Kewal Dhillon and former Union Minister Pawan Bansal’s son with sources saying Bansal’s son had the backing of top industrial houses while Dhillon had an edge with local organisational support.
Congress dilemma in Patiala continues, list delayed
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