Friends turned foes in race for many Ludhiana seats

Ludhiana: This assembly elections, the voters will witness some interesting fights among the friends turned foes. These candidates were once allies or in the same party but now they contest against each other. Like Bikram Singh Majithia from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Navjot Singh Sidhu from the Congress are pitted against each other but sometime ago were together in the SAD-BJP alliance, many local candidates also have a similar history. The BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal have fought many elections in alliance but, this time, both parties are rivals in the poll arena. From the Ludihiana North constituency, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Parveen Bansal for third time in a row despite his losing the seat in the previous two attempts. He will fight against

R D Sharma

, who has joined the Shiromani Akali Dal after leaving the BJP. From the North constituency, the Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Madan Lal Bagga, who was in the SAD earlier. In 2017, Bagga had contested as independent candidate and created trouble for Parveen Bansal, while now he will pose challenge to both Parveen Bansal and R D Sharma. Asked about the constest, Sharma said: “It doesn’t matter from which side I contest. When I was in the BJP, I worked whole-heartedly there, and now I am in the Akali Dal, so I am performing my duty here. I wish all the best to all the contenders, no matter who belongs to which party. I believe that instead of worrying about my opponents, I should concentrate on my own campaign. As far as Parveen Bansal is concerned, he is a senior politician and I respect him.”Asked about the constest, Bansal said: “The competition should be healthy. Had it not beed RD

Sharma

, it would have been someone else. I would still have given my best. Rest is up to the voting public.” Similarly from Dakha constituency, Captain

Sandeep Sandhu

of the Congress and Damanjit Singh Mohi of the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) are fighting against each other. During Captain Amarinder Singh time as chief minister in 2017, both had served as officer on special duty (OSD) to the CM. Sandhu decided to stay in the Congress, while Mohi went with Captain when he formed his own party.From the Ludhiana West constituency, cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress and Gurpreet Gogi of the Aam Aadmi Party are against each other. Gogi had joined AAP after quitting the Congress recently. Even in the Ludhiana central constituency, Congress candidate

Surinder Dawar

is jup against AAP’s Ashok Prashar Pappi, who was once in the Congress. Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) MLA Simarjit Singh Bains and Congress candidate Kamaljit Singh Karwal are rivals for a second time, whereas they used to be on good terms with each other until a few years ago. There is a similar scenario in several other constituencies. A senior political observer said: “This king of a challenge is in almost every constituency of Ludhiana district, because the number of parties have increased and overambitious politicians who used to contest as independents if denied ticket have got the election ticket and symbol. It is purely a marriage of convenience. The parties needed candidates and the candidates needed parties.”
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