Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, September 15
The Shiromani Akali Dal is busy trying to tie up loose ends, which are many, before finalising its candidates on six of the district’s seven Assembly seats even as it has put its final stamp of approval on ex-MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali for the Gurdaspur seat.
On some seats, the party is facing a political vacuum while on others it is balancing various permutations and combinations before deciding candidates.
In Qadian, the party used to bank on Sewa Singh Sekhwan. His absence now means it is now being forced to explore new possibilities.
Sucha Singh Langah, who was the candidate from Dera Baba Nanak in 2017, stands expelled from the party after a controversial video of his went viral. He is regularly holding rallies but these will remain an exercise in futility if he does not get a reprieve from Akal Takht.
Sucha Singh Chottepur remains the X-factor. He is being wooed by the Akalis and if everything falls into place he may well be asked to contest. Being a former SAD leader and a Jat Sikh, he ticks all the right boxes.
In Batala, there is bound to be a void if sitting MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal’s obstinacy to contest from the neighbouring seat of Fatehgarh Churian is not checked. The party is not in a position to ignore the claims of youth leader Ravi Karan Kahlon as he has been working assiduously in the area for the last four years. His work during Covid is being spoken of highly by his constituents. “There is talk that Kahlon may be shifted to Dera Baba Nanak but that will be akin to fitting a square peg in a round hole as he wields considerable influence in Fatehgarh Churian and will be a misfit in Dera Baba Nanak,” said an MLA.
The leadership is also scouting for a new face in the reserved constituency of Sri Hargobindpur. Last time, a rank outsider Manjit Singh Manna was unsuccessfully made to contest. Manna had his pockets of influence in Khadoor Sahib and Baba Bakala and the decision to shift him raised many an eyebrow. In Dinanagar, the party is trying to find a Hindu face.
Kairons get going in native village
Tarn Taran: SAD ex-minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, who has been fielded by the party from his native Patti constituency, and his family have reached Kairon village in Tarn Taran to strategise for the Assembly elections. Gurmukh Singh Ghulla, PA to Kairon, said the party workers were forming a 15-member committee at the booth level in all 109 villages of the constituency. He said Kairon would soon begin meeting residents.
In Gurdaspur dist, SAD scouts for candidates
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