Nation

Punjab Byelections: Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur Among 40 Star Campaigners For Jalandhar Seat

April 21, 2023
Bharat Times

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a list of 40 leaders on Friday who will campaign for the Jalandhar parliamentary byelection in Punjab, including several union ministers and top party leaders such as Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur.

The death of Congress’s Santokh Singh Chaudhary necessitated the holding of a byelection in Jalandhar on May 10. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Congress defector Sushil Rinku, while the Congress is banking on Chaudhary’s widow Karamjit Kaur. The BJP has nominated Atwal as its candidate, while the SAD-BSP alliance has nominated former MLA Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi for the seat, which has been held by the Congress since 1999.

On Thursday, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said that voters in Jalandhar will respond appropriately to the Aam Aadmi Party’s “hollow guarantees, lies, and unfulfilled promises” in the bypoll. Warring was campaigning in various parts of Jalandhar and Phillaur for his party’s Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary.

Earlier, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann led his star-studded caravan on Monday (April 17) to file the nomination papers of AAP candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku for the bypolls to the Jalandhar parliamentary seat on May 10. Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal, state finance minister Harpal Cheema, local MLAs Sheetal Aungral, Balkar Singh, Inderjeet Mann, and Raman Arora, as well as two trophy recruits, Mohinder Bhagat (ex-BJP) and Jagbir Brar (ex-Akali Dal), accompanied him.

It is also worth noting that, with less than three weeks until the Jalandhar byelection, the big names who have dominated Punjab politics in recent decades are noticeably absent. Parkash Singh Badal, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch, Captain Amarinder Singh, the scion of Patiala’s erstwhile royal family, the Dhindsas, the Bhattals, and the Jakhars have all disappeared, leaving campaigning to the next generation of politicians.