LS polls: Harsimrat not a big challenge, faces 'massive' anti-incumbency, says BJP Bathinda nominee

Chandigarh: Parampal Kaur Sidhu, the BJP candidate from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, does not see a big challenge in sitting MP and SAD nominee Harsimrat Kaur Badal, claiming there is a “massive" anti-incumbency against her.

The Bathinda constituency is considered a stronghold of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a former Union minister and wife of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, bagging the seat in the 2009, 2014 and 2019 general elections.

She has been fielded again from the seat by the SAD.

Sidhu is the daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader Sikander Singh Maluka. She, along with her husband Gurpreet Singh Maluka, joined the BJP recently while Sikander Singh continues to remain with the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led party.

“She (Harsimrat) is not a big challenge. There is massive anti-incumbency against her. She has never been in touch with the public,” claimed Sidhu, a 2011-batch IAS officer who quit her job to join politics.

Sidhu said Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the daughter-in-law of five-time Punjab chief minister and SAD patriarch late Parkash Singh Badal, won in 2019 because of the BJP support.

“Now, without the support of the BJP, she should not even think about of winning this seat,” Sidhu told PTI.

The BJP is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab on its own for the first time since 1996 after the SAD walked out of the NDA in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws.

Accusing Badal of taking credit for development projects in Bathinda, Sidhu said it was because of the BJP government at the Centre that an All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a central university came up in the constituency, besides a network of roads.

Keeping in mind the interests of the Sikh community, the BJP government built the Kartarpur corridor, removed goods and services tax (GST) on items used for making ‘langar’ in gurdwaras and announced ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ to be observed on December 26 every year to mark the martyrdom day of the sons of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru.

Everything is in the BJP's favour, she asserted.

Sidhu said when her father-in-law sees for himself the “BJP wave” and realises that the public opinion is in favour of the saffron party, he will be convinced that she took a "good decision".

Maluka, a former cabinet minister, had earlier said that he had tried to stop his son and daughter-in-law from joining the BJP.

Donning the role of a politician after working as an officer in the state government, Sidhu said she does not see any positive change in Punjab under the new AAP government while asserting that she has always been working towards resolving the problems of the people.

Taking on the AAP, Sidhu alleged there was "nil" performance by the Bhagwant Mann-led dispensation in the state.

“Files are not cleared for several days. There is no review of any department. Nothing is happening in the state government. Only statements are issued,” alleged Sidhu whose last posting was as the managing director of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation.

“It is only the BJP which will form the government at the Centre,” she asserted.

Responding to farmers protesting against the BJP candidates, Sidhu accused the SAD of “orchestrating” agitations, including those in the Bathinda constituency.

Within a few minutes, the pictures of such protests are uploaded on the SAD’s Facebook, she claimed.

The BJP candidates and leaders have been facing protests from farmers during poll campaigning.

BJP's Faridkot candidate Hans Raj Hans, Amritsar candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Patiala candidate Preneet Kaur and Gurdaspur candidate Dinesh Babbu have faced the farmers' anger.

For the Bathinda parliamentary constituency, Sidhu said she wanted a rail coach factory to be set up and more industrial units to come up.

Besides Badal and Sidhu, AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khuddian and Congress party’s Jeet Mohinder Sidhu are in the fray from the Bathinda seat.