Punjab Election 2022: Despite revved up drive, CM Charanjit Singh Channi has a worry on hand in Bhadaur

Chandigarh: Even though the Congress campaign has been jacked up in the Bhadaur (reserved) assembly seat after party leader Rahul Gandhi recently named Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief ministerial candidate of the party, the latter has a worry on hand.

Channi, Punjab’s first Dalit chief minister, is contesting from here beside his own Chamkaur Sahib seat (reserved) in district Rupnagar of Doaba region, would have to work overtime to make a mark in Bhaduar, district Barnala, which falls in Malwa belt.

For, the worrying fact for Channi is that the Malwa region is Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) citadel and Bhadaur seat, a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stronghold. This seat has been won only twice by Congress in the past 11 assembly elections since 1967 – Punjab’s reorganisation.

The SAD won this seat seven times, Congress’ Bachan Singh won in 1969 and its candidate Mohammad Sadique won in 2012, while the candidates of CPI and BSP, also won from here once each. In 2017, AAP’s candidate won from here.

Moreover, the Barnala district has three assembly constituencies – Barnala, Mehal Kalan, and Bhadaur – and these three seats were won by AAP in 2017. Not only this, the district is also part of the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat which has AAP chief ministerial candidate and two-time MP Bhagwant Mann. Nonetheless, Congress’s decision to field Channi from Bhadaur as well also aims at cutting into AAP’s Dalit vote bank in Malwa where the party has ample scope to improve.

The AAP candidate Pirmal Singh Dhaula won the seat with a margin of over 17,000 votes by defeating SAD’s Sant Balvir Singh Ghunas in 2017. To Channi’s relief, however, Dhaula has recently hopped over to Congress and he is now campaigning for Channi.

The AAP has now fielded Labh Singh Ugoke, the SAD, Satnam Singh, a prominent advocate, and Capt Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) has fielded Dharam Singh Fauji.

Besides other rivals, Channi, 58, also faces a threat from AAP’s Ugoke, 35, who comes from a humble background as his father is a driver and his mother a sweeper at a school. He himself runs a small mobile phone repair shop.

Ugoke tells people of the town during his campaign how he campaigned for Dhaula in 2017 in the same streets in which he is seeking votes for himself. He says that now the people of the same areas support him and oppose Dhaula as he has left AAP shifted his loyalty to Congress ahead of polls. He says he is fighting for the better future of the youth who are mindlessly migrating abroad.

Dhaula who is campaigning for Channi says that his supporters are still with him and he is supporting the Congress and would do whatever work his party would give him.

The SAD candidate Satnam Singh, former constituency in-charge, is hopeful of a win as he says, the seat is a SAD stronghold. "Moreover, we have Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with us this time, which is an advantage’’, he tells media persons.

Channi has been saying that his mission is to develop the Malwa region which has so far been ignored and neglected by other parties.