New Delhi, April 2: Ahead of the meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee for Punjab Lok Sabha nominees on Tuesday, former union minister Manish Tewari has emerged as the frontrunner from the Anandpur Saheb segment after senior party leader Ambika Soni has preferred to opt out of the electoral race this year.
Soni had unsuccessfully contested from Anandpur in 2014.
Meanwhile, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal told media here that he doesn’t want to contest from Bathinda and has told the party this.
“I’ve conveyed my mind to the Congress leadership that I don’t want to contest since I’m a sitting Minister. If they eventually ask me to contest, that’s a different matter,” Badal said today adding that it was Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal’s moral duty to defend the seat and not run away.
Akali Dal is yet to declare its candidates from Bathinda and Ferozepur with the Congress expected to keep the decision in these segments pending till it finds out what Akalis are doing.
On other segments though there’s some clarity in Congress.
It’s learnt that Kewal Dhillon is leading the race for Congress nomination from Sangrur and Dimpa from Khadoor Sahib.
Former bureaucrat Amar Singh could get the Fatehgarh Sahib ticket and Hoshiarpur remains bracketed between MLA Raj Kumar Chhabewal and Yamini Gomar.
Three sitting MPs are set to be re-nominated — state party president Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur, Choudhry Santokh from Jalandhar and Ravneet Bittu from Ludhiana.
Amritsar MP Gurjit Aujla’s fate will be decided by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi who heads the central panel. Aujla is facing resistance from local Congress MLAs in Amritsar.
