Chandigarh, April 2: The Congress has again reposed its faith in Pawan Kumar Bansal, who has been named to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Chandigarh constituency for the eighth time. The decision was conveyed to him after a meeting of the Central Election Committee that was chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi this evening. Chandigarh Congress president Pradeep Chhabra also attended the meeting.
Bansal was one of the three contenders who had staked claim to the party ticket for the Chandigarh LS seat this time. Besides Bansal, Manish Tewari, a former Union Minister, and Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a former MLA of Punjab, were in the race. The core committee of the Chandigarh Congress had recommended his name to the screening committee.
While the BJP is yet to announce its candidate, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already named Harmohan Dhawan as its candidate.
Bansal lost the last LS elections to BJP candidate Kirron Kher by a margin of 69,642 votes. Kher, who had jumped into the electoral fray for the first time, had polled 1,91,362 votes, while Bansal got 1,21,720 votes and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gul Panag was at the third position with 1,08,679 votes.
The lawyer-turned-politician had to resign as the Railway Minister in 2013 after his nephew was arrested in the alleged railway bribery scam.
Though the BJP has been leading a diatribe against him since then, Bansal strongly refuted the allegations. Replying to the allegations, Bansal said he had no role in the case as the officer concerned was not appointed member (electrical) in the Railway Board and no chargesheet was filed against him. The Congress high command reposed faith in him in 2014 and has done so this time as well. Bansal has contested seven Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh, winning four of them in 1991, 1999, 2004 and 2009. He served as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the Minister for Water Resources, the Minister of State for Finance and Parliamentary Affairs and the Railway Minister. Bansal won the seat for the first time in 1991. However in the 1996 and 1998 elections, BJP’s Satya Pal Jain won the Chandigarh seat.
Bansal has studied at Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, Government College, Chandigarh, and the Department of Laws, Panjab University.
He started his politics from the Youth Congress and was the general secretary of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress from 1976 to 1978. He was also appointed the president of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress in 1982. Later, he remained president of the Punjab Youth Congress in 1982-83.
Bansal also remained a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1990.
He was also member, Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Rajya Sabha General Purposes Committee, and Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Reacting to Bansal’s candidature, Chandigarh BJP president Sanjay Tandon said it would not affect the BJP in any way as people of the country had “already decided to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again”.
Says Will restore image of Chandigarh
Surrounded by a large number of supporters at his Sector 28 house on Tuesday evening, Bansal said the Congress would form the next government at the Centre as people were feeling cheated by the BJP. Bansal said there was an environment of dejection everywhere. The image of the city had been dented and development had came to a standstill. He said MP Kirron Kher had failed to live up to the expectations of the people. The Metro project had been dumped without any reason. The city slipped in the rankings in the swachhta survekshan. He said the Congress would not only restore the glory of the city butwould also bring the required funds for the cash-starved MC and the Administration, which “does not even have funds to pay salaries”. He said NYAY, a scheme announced by the Congress, would be the final assault on poverty. The scheme would ensure minimum income for the poor. Thanking the leadership, Bansal said the party would win the seat by a handsome margin.
Navjot Kaur thanks supporters
A ticket aspitant , Navjot Kaur Sidhu thanked supporters in a message posted on her WhatsApp group. She said “all team members have been working exceptionally well for strengthening the party and reaching out to people with our vision for Chandigarh and the party’s vision for our country. Love, hard work, honesty and compassion and keeping selfless service is the mission of our team.”
