Lok Sabha election 2019: Ticket war simmers within Congress at Patiala and Sangrur

PATIALA: Other than taking on the rivals in Patiala and Sangrur, the Congress party will also be fighting a battle within its own rank and file in the two constituencies where more than one senior party leaders have staked their claim for the ticket.


While, in Sangrur, it is former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhatal and Kewal Dhillon who are vying for to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, in Patiala it is the former Union minister of state for external affairs and three-time MP Preneet Kaur and four-time MLA Randeep Singh Nabha who have filed their papers for the ticket.

The party insiders said the denial of ticket to any of these leaders could affect the electoral prospects of the contests as the leaders can use their clout in the respective areas to influence the voters. While Rajinder Kaur Bhatal is said to hold sway in a number of assembly segments in Sangrur especially around Lehra Gaga, Kewal Dhillon has a considerable following in areas in and around Sangrur. In Patiala, Randeep Nabha can impact the voting patterns in Nabha from where he himself has won twice and his father has contested six elections and has also served as a cabinet minister.

As the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab have been pushed back to May 19, the Congress High Command at the centre has also deferred the announcement of the party tickets in the state.

The sources, who did not wish to be quoted, said Rajinder Kaur Bhatal and Kewal Dhillon both were senior party leaders and were vehemently lobbying for the party ticket to contest the elections from Sangrur. They said despite this the party was also considering to field a Hindu face given the caste calculations of the Sangrur constituency that can overshadow the party’s applied norms. Besides, these two leaders, a number of local Congress leaders have also been camping in Delhi to secure a ticket either for themselves or their kin.

In Patiala, the ticket race is between Preneet Kaur and party’s MLA from Amloh Randeep Singh. Here the party sources claim when Congress had formed the government after the last assembly polls, Randeep Singh had tried to get a ministerial berth. However, given the fact that he was not on ‘cordial terms’ with the Patiala Royals-Capt Amarinder Singh and Preneet Kaur, his claims went unheard within the party. According to these sources, Randeep had stepped in to claim the party ticket so he could leverage his position to consolidate his standing within the state Congress.

Here, chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has already stepped in to ensure a comfortable win for his wife as he has already held two meetings with all the MLAs of assembly segments that fall in Lok Sabha constituency and met the zone in-charges and heads of frontal organizations from Patiala to review the preparedness for the Lok Sabha polls.

Even Preneet Kaur is plying down the claims laid by Randeep Singh on the party ticket. “Congress has a democratic system and anyone can apply for a party ticket. It is for the high command to decide who will contest the elections and we all will stand by their decision,” she said.

Cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot while denying that the leaders who will not get the ticket will affect the voters against their respective ‘bête noire’ said, “It is the prerogative of the party high command to pick up the contestants and who so ever will get the party ticket, the entire Congress will work collectively for his or her win.”