MP Ravneet Singh Bittu set to take on CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, Bhagwant Mann

CHANDIGARH: Congress is set to field Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu from Jalalabad against deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bhagwant Mann of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Sources said both Bittu and Indian Youth Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring have volunteered themselves for any key constituency but Bittu is likely to be the party’s pick for the big fight. Even though the initial plan was to field Bittu from Lambi against CM Parkash Singh Badal and Sidhu from Jalalabad, the latter is believed to have opted out.This made Amarinder announce his decision to fight from Lambi. Warring’s candidature has already been announced from Giddarbaha.
Bittu, who was earlier asked to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Ludhiana instead of the Anandpur Sahib, the seat he won in 2009, to make way for his senior colleague Ambika Soni, is being seen as a formidable candidate who can give a tough fight to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann in Jalalabad.
Meanwhile, the candidature of former Hockey captain Pargat Singh is set to be announced from Jalandhar (Cantonment), the seat he presently represents, contrary to the plans of party leadership to shift him to Nakodar. Sources said both Amarinder and Sidhu had recommended that Pargat should be renominated from the same seat. Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu is now most likely to contest from Amritsar (East), the seat presently represented by his wife.
The final list of the party could also deprive party’s senior vice president Lal Singh of a ticket, even though he has been hopeful that he too will be named from Sanaur, even after his son Rajinder Singh has already been fielded.
Party leaders said it had dawned upon the Congress leadership at a later stage to plot some big fights against the Akali leadership to counter the charge by AAP that there is collusion between Congress and SAD.
“The party had resorted to a similar strategy during the Lok Sabha elections and it had asked Capt Amarinder Singh, Ambika Soni and Partap Singh Bajwa to take plunge in the electoral battle even as the latter two were sitting MPs. This resulted in the party putting up tough fights. This time also the same thing is being planned,” said a Congress leader.
Bittu will be new to Jalalabad and he will have to start from scratch in the area. “He will have to reply on the anti-incumbency sentiment against the SAD. He is a young face of the party who has proved his mettle in the past. Things can go either way,” said another congress leader.