By Our Correspondent
There is a new cloud on Punjab’s horizon. A cloud which for now will suffice to provide Nanni Chhaon to the formidable clan of Badals – led by Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal. Also seeking shelter in the pallu of this cloud is Shirommani Akali Dal president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal.
This sheltering cloud is none other than Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Sukhbir Badal’s wife and Prakash Singh Badal’s daughter in law. Her victory has helped protect the Badal’s ghar ki izzat by successfully defeating Patiala’s Yuvraj – the only son of three-time Lok Sabha MP, Praneet Kaur and the former Maharaja of Patiala and former Chief Minister, Captain (retd.) Amarinder Singh.
Though Harsimrat has been politically active for a couple of years, she came in the public glare only recently when her NGO campaigned against female foeticide and for planting trees. Her maiden victory is politically significant because her defeat would have been interpreted as a referendum on the wobbly leadership of the Prakash-Sukhbir, father son duo. It would have put the Badals on the defensive and created a split amongst the Akali rank and file. Sukhbir, already under pressure for his not so clean reputation and autocratic functioning, should therefore heave a sigh of relief.
Harsimrat’s victory may also work to curtail the renewing clout and popularity of Amarinder Singh who had visualised a complete rout of the Akali-BJP combine. In fact many political pundits specialising on Punjab were predicting that the Congress would win at least 11 seats. The Maharaja is “dissatisfied” with the results and will have to rework his strategy if he wants to win the next state assembly elections. Clearly both the Akalis and the Congress have managed only to keep their necks above the water. The real battle begins now.
The clear winner in Punjab though is Manmohan Singh and his nuclear deal. Many will not remember Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Libra, who violated his party’s whip and abstained from voting on the vote of confidence against the government on the nuclear deal. He has won the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket by defeating the deputy Lok Sabha Speaker, Charanjit Singh Atwal and has once again vindicated the “Singh is King” headlines.
Though the Yuvraj of Patiala lost, the Congress Yuvraj Rahul Gandhi’s political intervention in the run-up to the parliamentary polls proved to be a boon. Rahul Gandhi had literally imposed three virtual greenhorns on the Punjab poll-scape but was vindicated when two of them won. Vijay Inder Singh defeated Akali heavyweight Sukdev Singh Dindsa in Sangrur and Ravneet Singh Bittu, former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s grandson bagged the Anandpur Sahib seat.
An emerging Congress stalwart is the suave and erudite spokesperson, Manish Tiwari, who won convincingly from the Ludhiana seat. The Tiwari surname obviously helped as Ludhiana has close to two lakh registered Bihari voters. Tiwari has succeeded in his second attempt and is face from Punjab that one expects to see in the Union Council of Ministers. The other MPs from Punjab in the race for a berth are third time winner from Patiala, Praneet Kaur and Santosh Choudhary from Hoshiarpur.