Ludhiana: For Bharat Bhushan Ashu and the Congress, AAP’s victory in the bypoll underlines deeper issues. Even though Ashu, party leaders and workers campaigned earnestly, differences in the party rank and file were blatantly visible. Ludhiana MP and party’s Punjab president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, former MLAs including Sanjay Talwar, who is district Congress president (urban), Surinder Dawar, Rakesh Pandey, and Kuldeep Singh Vaid, were hardly visible during Ashu’s campaign. Ashu polled 24,542 votes, while the winning candidate, Sanjeev Arora of AAP, received 35,179 votes. In 2022, Ashu lost the assembly elections to AAP candidate Gurpreet Bassi Gogi with a margin of about 8,000 votes. Gogi received 40,443 votes and Ashu received 32,931 votes.In 2017 and 2012, Ashu defeated his opponents by a double margin. In 2017, he defeated AAP candidate Ahbaab Singh Grewal with a margin of over 35,000 votes. Ashu received 66,627 votes, while Grewal received 30,106 votes. In 2012, Ashu won by 69,125 votes, while his opponent, BJP candidate Rajinder Bhandari, received 33,203 votes.During this bypoll, Ashu was cornered by his rivals over his “arrogant” image and old controversies involving a former DSP and a woman official. AAP gained ground saying that an MLA of the opposition party would not be able to get work done. Also, in stark contrast to a divided Congress, AAP leaders came together to campaign for Arora. As chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal campaigned for Arora, Ashu lacked the support of the local leadership as well as the party president.Former Congress MLAs, such as Kuldeep Singh Vaid, a resident of Sarabha Nagar, and Surinder Dawar from Ghumar Mandi, both of which are part of Ludhiana West constituency, failed to campaign for Ashu. Former MLA Rakesh Pandey and district president Sanjay Talwar also remained distant from the campaign.Team Ashu comprised Gagandeep Sunny Bhalla, Ishwarjot Cheema, Inderjit Singh Indi, councillor Arun Sharma, and former senior deputy mayor Sham Sunder Malhotra.Even as local leaders remained absent, Ashu received support from senior Congress leaders, Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. They even camped in Ludhiana to support Ashu. Incidentally, Ashu himself requested Rana Gurjeet to run his election campaign.“I respect and accept the verdict of the people with all humility. Also, I take responsibility for the defeat. We fought against the strength of the government. We will analyse where we lacked and work on it,” Ashu said. He added, “I also thank all the leaders who supported me and campaigned for me. Besides, I also assure full support and cooperation for the welfare and development of Ludhiana, a promise AAP’s Sanjeev Arora sought votes for.” MSID:: 122027369 413 |
