‘Raja Warring, due to his appeal among the masses, could be the right candidate to fight against AAP’.
New Delhi: After Bhagwant Mann of the AAP resigned from the Lok Sabha following victory on the Assembly seat of Dhuri, to become the Chief Minister of the state, the Congress may field Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, on the seat, in the upcoming bypolls.
Other top names, which have emerged in the party as top contenders for the seat are former MLA Barnala, Kewal Singh Dhillon, former MP Sangrur, Vijay Inder Singla, and former MLA, Dhuri, Goldy Khangura. “Though the names have surfaced, the party hasn’t taken any decision on who will be the final candidate.”
Yet, according to top Congress leaders, Raja Warring, due to his strong appeal among the masses, could be the right candidate to fight against the AAP, after the Delhi-based party won the recent Assembly elections with a thumping majority and is currently a first choice among the masses in the state. However, experts believe, the AAP will again win the seat with a thumping majority no matter who the Congress chooses as a candidate. Mann had won the parliamentary seat back-to-back in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
In the AAP, meanwhile, Bhagwant Mann’s sister’s name is doing rounds on social media, as the party wants to field her as a replacement for Mann. Moreover, a question has been doing rounds in Punjab about who is the first choice of people for the by-election, signaling Mann’s sister as the top choice. And, according to a recent survey by AAP, Bhagwant Mann’s sister, Manpreet Kaur, stands at number one. Considered a bastion of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Sangrur has nine Assembly segments—Dirba, Sunam, Dhuri, Lehra, Barnala, Bhadaur, Malerkotla, Mehal Kalan, and Sangrur—which were all won by the AAP in the 2022 Assembly elections.
That said, the Congress is going through a tough phase where the party’s demotivated ground workers would be shattered with the expected loss in the coming bypolls amid the “AAP wave”, which political observers believe, will put the party into incurable descent.
Darshan Lal Mangpur, ex-MLA of Congress, told The Sunday Guardian, “There is a lot going on within the Congress; recently Sunil Jhakhar left the party. What good will happen to those who will leave the party? This party has given respect, currently, it’s going fine, and leadership is in high energy, as leaders are busy in Sangrur elections. Congress will fight for the seat with full might.”