Punjab polls: Majithia queers the pitch for Sidhu in high stake contest

In good old times, Navjot Singh Sidhu would sing paeans for Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia. The Akali leader would respond even more graciously. Today, both are baying for blood.

Way back in 2009, when Sidhu won as an MP from Amritsar on the BJP ticket, he eloquently credited Majithia, the brother of former union minister in Modi’s cabinet Harsimran Kaur Badal, for his win. If not friends, both certainly shared a good rapport then. Over the years, especially after Sidhu entered the Congress fold, this bonhomie turned bitter.

Today, Sidhu and Majithia are pitted against each other from border town Amritsar east constituency in Punjab’s Majha, a seat that is turning out to be one of the most bitterly contested elections. Sidhu won the last elections with a huge margin on the Congress ticket in 2017. This time, Majithia’s entry had ensured it’s not a cakewalk for Sidhu.

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Both Sidhu and Majithia are making things arduous for each other in this high stake election. Mudslinging, name-calling to verbal diarrhoea, the campaign is seeing all shades of substandard political vocabulary on display. In a no-holds-barred contest, Sidhu minces no words blemishing Majitha for his involvement in a drug case. He names him a Mafia. Majithia, who vows to defeat Sidhu, is also facing a belligerent attack from Sidhu’s wife and daughter Sabia.

Majha with 25 seats out of 117 constituencies in Punjab was swept by the Congress in 2017 which won 22 seats in the last elections. Besides the anti-incumbency that went against the 10-years of SAD-BJP rule in the state from 2007 to 2017, it was arguably the Sidhu factor that helped Congress regain Majha.

Also Read | Sidhu’s sanctified ways, a challenge, and his connect with Mata Vaishno Devi

A lot is now at stake for both Sidhu and Congress. The impact of Sidhu being overlooked by the Congress high command, which decided in favour of Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi as the party CM face, is likely to have an impact on the party prospects in this region.

The first round arguably went in favour of Bikram Majithia, who won the battle of perception by announcing to take on Sidhu on his home turf. The Amritsar east constituency, which is largely an urban seat, came into existence in 2012 after delimitation. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, the namesake wife of Navjot Sidhu, became MLA on the BJP ticket in 2012. Majithia, a three-time MLA, has been representing the Majithia assembly seat since 2007.

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