CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress President Captain Amarinder Singh’s call to end dynastic considerations in distribution of party tickets in the Assembly polls hasn’t gone down well with several senior leaders in the state. As the party is expected to finalise candidates soon, Amarinder’s announcement of ‘one family, one ticket’ gives anxious moments to several party leaders in the state who want nominations for their kin.
Sources said 600 names have been shortlisted for the 117 seats from 1,600 applications. On Friday, Amarinder, who met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, said some 30 seats will go to youngsters.
A senior Congress leader said, “The party should award tickets on merit and to winning candidates. If our near and dear ones have applied, what is wrong in it? They have been working for the party for long and if they deserve, they should be nominated.’’
Amarinder will contest from the Patiala (Urban) and his son Ravinder Singh will not fight from Samana as he did last time. Amarinder’s wife Praneet Kaur, former MoS for External Affairs and MLA from Patiala (Urban), will have to leave the seat for her husband. However, she wants to fight Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar which will fall vacant if Amarinder gets elected as MLA, according to party insiders. “MPs want tickets for their kin. They do not want to leave the state politics and need their foothold here,’’ said a ticket aspirant.
Former state Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa wants party ticket for his brother Fatehjung Singh Bajwa in their ancestral town Qadian in Gurdaspur, instead of Partap’s wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, sitting MLA from there, thus ending a long-drawn family feud.
Former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, MLA from Lehragaga in Sangrur district, wants her son-in-law Vikram Singh to be nominated from Sahnewal seat near Ludhiana. Congress Vice President Lal Singh, who eyes Sanour segment, also wants ticket for son Rajinder Singh from Samana.
Similarly, SBS Nagar MLA Guriqbal Kaur, who contested in the 2012 elections following the demise of her husband Parkash Singh, has applied from her seat. She expects her son Angad Singh to get the ticket if she is rejected.
Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh wants his son Bikram Singh to be given ticket from Kartarpur as Santok’s late elder brother Chaudhary Jagjit Singh was earlier MLA from there.
Meanwhile, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu wants ticket for his cousin-brother Gurkirat Singh Kotli, MLA from Khanna.
Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dullo wants nomination for his wife Harbans Kaur Dullo, who had contested unsuccessfully in Bassi Pathana in 2012.
State Congress’s Kisan Wing president Inderjit Singh Zira wants party ticket for his son from Zira.