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    General J J Singh strategy to beat Captain Amarinder Singh: Walk the extra mile

    Synopsis

    Captain has often been accused by his detractors of not letting go of his royal lineage and remaining inaccessible like a Maharaja.

    TNN
    PATIALA: General J J Singh (retd) has a pedometer in his smartphone which he checks at the end of the day. The app has told him that he is clocking 10km every day ever since he started campaigning in Patiala for SAD against one of Punjab's most powerful politicians, former CM Captain Amarinder Singh. "I'm almost 70 and I'm doing this every day," says India's first Sikh chief of army staff with some pride. "Now let's see if Captain can match this."

    That in a nutshell is the General's strategy to beat a Captain -walking that extra mile to reach out to the people of Patiala. Captain has often been accused by his detractors of not letting go of his royal lineage and remaining inaccessible like a Maharaja. This is also how many people still refer to him in Patiala -Maharaja Sahib.

    "He thinks he is still a maharaja," Gen Singh says. "Captain doesn't step out of the palace. There is a paradigm shift in Punjab's politics now with the entry of AAP. You can't win elections without reaching out to the people."

    Everywhere Singh goes, he asks those who've shaken Captain's hand to raise their hands."Invariably there are none," he says. "I'm shaking as many hands as possible and asking people about their problems.

    And there are problems. Of roads and dirt and sewage..."

    Interestingly, Gen Singh's family had settled in Patiala for four to five years after they migrated from Rawalpindi in Pakistan during the Partition.

    He believes that Captain has bitten more than he can chew by taking on CM Parkash Singh Badal on his home turf of Lambi. "I will put Captain's popularity to the test in Patiala and he will not win in Lambi. The problem is no party has challenged him in Patiala before. I'm doing exactly that."

    Singh brushes aside criticism that it is unbecoming of an ex-Army chief and ex-governor to contest a poll. "It is okay for royalty to fight elections but not okay for an Army chief to fight the same? Why bring rank into this? I want to do seva and I shouldn't be allowed to do so because of my rank? This is a very bad argument."

    Although Singh claims that the fairly large community of ex-servicemen in Patiala is backing him after their initial reluctance, there are many who are uncomfortable with him jumping into the heat and dust of an assembly poll.

    It is around 11.30am on Tuesday and the black and white chessboard like floor of the Kali temple in Patiala is still freezing cold. A bunch of dedicated Captain supporters are waiting barefoot for him to arrive. Ask the people at the temple about the 'inaccessible maharaja' and one of them says, " Accessible or not you can't shake his goodwill here. Leave Captain aside, Maharani (captain's wife and Union ex-minister Preneet Kaur) has even more goodwill." There is general agreement that Maharani's accessibility makes up for Captain's inaccessibility.


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