GS Paul
Amritsar, February 1
With SAD MLA and ex-minister Bikram Majithia throwing hat into the ring in Amritsar East, the home turf of his arch-rival Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, for the ensuing 2022 Assembly polls, the stakes are high on both sides.
AAP may benefit
The Sidhu-Majithia fight is more on a personal level while the development, which matters to the common man, remains ignored. People may look for change amp; vote for AAP. Roop Lal, Bharat Nagar resident
Residents feel that it would be a tough fight, which could tilt on either side. Both candidates have remained unbeaten on the political pitch. Sidhu was three-time MP and sitting MLA from East, whereas Bikram was a three-time MLA from Majitha.
With Majithia, the SAD has made its debut in the East. During the SAD-BJP alliance, this seat was in the BJP quota.
Post delimitation in 2012, East was represented by Navjot Kaur Sidhu (BJP candidate), who quit the medical profession to enter politics. Despite being a Congress-dominating belt, she won with 33,406 votes on the BJP ticket.
In 2016, Sidhu, a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar between 2004 and 2014, quit the SAD-BJP alliance and joined the Congress. In 2017, he won the seat by a convincing margin of 42,332 votes.
Meanwhile, Sarbjit Singh, Verka resident, said with the Congress dominance in the area, Sidhu could deliver better while Majithia, who was facing drug charges, could be the last choice. “Despite winning with a mammoth margin, the Sidhu couple could hardly deliver as they were not cooperated by the top leadership, be it Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD or Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress. The families belonging to Maqboolpura, Verka and Batala road localities have been harshly affected by the drug menace and no successive governments have been able to curb it. They too have Sidhu as a better choice as he presented the ‘Punjab model’ and a vision for the state’s resurrection. But Majithia will certainly give a tough fight.”
Ironically, some residents resent the scant visits of Sidhu. Even his ‘missing’ posters too had surfaced a couple of times here till June 2021. Kamal Makhan of Sharifpura said the SAD could not be taken lightly. “It seems Majithia’s candidature was not decided in a day. Over the recent period of time, the SAD has increased its invasion with a strong workers’ base at the grassroots level in East. Majithia will give a tough fight to Sidhu and the margin could be anything between 1,000 and 2,000 votes,” he added.
More of a personal fight: Locals
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