No Celebrity, No Outsider, Saffron BJP Faces Tough Posturing while deciding Amritsar LS Candidate

AMRITSAR: The saffron Bharatiya Janata Party is facing tough posturing from voters in the high profile Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency with people in general seeming upset with ‘celebrities’ or ‘outsiders’. The general perception is that the people para-trooped hardly make connections with the local populace, leading to all around resentment.
The party meanwhile is weighing various options and thus trying hard to find a suitable candidate at the seat which was once represented by cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. The BJP has lost successive three elections even after fielding heavy
weights including late Arun Jaitley and present Union Minister Hardip Singh Puri in the past.
The party is also facing voters’ ire in the neighboring Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency incumbent MP Bollywood star Sunny Deol hardly visited the constituency in the last five years of his term in the parliament. The local leadership and party cadre is resentful that these celebrities and `outsiders’ hardly nurture their constituencies and appear only during the election time.
“See, such acts of ignoring the voters for long, erode the party’s support base and prospects. We have to face the peoples’ resentment. People ask the question, where is the leader? What answer do we have to such questions”, said a local leader of the BJP in Amritsar, adding that people raise objections regarding the credibility of these ‘outsiders’.

Sidhu had remained busy in laughter channels and ignored the constituency and later switched loyalties to the Congress party, saying goodbye to the saffron party. Now there are a number of candidates flexing muscles for the party tickets. The party has not opened its cards so far as it is weighing many options as the local mood is that the party candidate must be a local face.
Former US Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu is camping in Amritsar though he has not joined the BJP, he is boasting his closeness to many top leaders of the party. But being an outsider, he might face the voters’ dislike. Another Sikh face and long time party loyalist Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, is emerging as the front runner in the race for the ticket. According to a senior BJP leader he could be a better choice because he is Jat Sikh, the dominant voter segment in the constituency. Former Rajya Sabha MP Shawet Malik and BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh are also in the race for the party ticket.
As the party has already been defeated in the last parliamentary polls, it is considering all possibilities and yet to open its cards. The perception is that the party must bank upon the local face as had been the practice with the Congress or other opposition parties who have gained electorally for fielding local candidates unlike BJP in past. People want a candidate who is accessible and approachable.
In 1966 when the state of Punjab was re-organized after carving out Himachal and Haryana, Akali leader Bikram Majithia’s grandfather Surjit Singh Majithia won from Congress ticket and became Minister in the Nehru government. The seat was represented by Durga Das Bhatia and then by his younger brother RL Bhatia who represented the seat five times.
It was in 1977 that Janata Party’s Baldev Parkash won the seat with Akalis’s help. Congress’s RL Bhatia won the seat in 1980 and repeated the victory in 1984 but he was defeated by Janata Party’s Kirpal Singh in 1989. All these top leaders were local voice and Amritsar emerged as prominent voice in the arena of politics
Congress’s RL Bhatia re-captured the seat in 1991 and again won in 1996 but again he was defeated by BJP’s Daya Singh Sodhi in 1998. He won the seat again in 1999 but he was defeated by Navjot Singh Sidhu in 2004 and again in 2009. In 2014 Captain Amarinder won by defeating Arun Jaitley.