Chandigarh: Dhuri, a sleepy town in Punjab’s Sangrur district, has become the star of the upcoming assembly polls in the state after the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann entered the fray from there.
In the previous polls, the seats of Patiala and Lambi – from where former chief ministers Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal had contested respectively – were the usual hot seats. However, with Mann’s entry, the hitherto politically alienated Dhuri (no MLA from this constituency has ever been made a minister in any government) has stepped into the limelight.
Mann officially kicked off his party’s campaign trail from his new constituency on Sunday, January 23, where he was welcomed by a huge crowd of people who put garlands across his neck as his cavalcade passed through several parts of Dhuri.
“It is not my election, it’s yours,” Mann said to the crowd swelling around his vehicle. Then, standing on the bonnet of his car, he told the crowd: “Politicians in Punjab made castles, bought expensive cars, earned crores in the sand and liquor mafias. The time has come to pack them home.”Mann, who was a satirist before he entered politics, cheered his crowd on, saying, “Hakoomat vo karata hai jinke dilon pe raaj hota hai. Kahne ko to murge ke sar pe bhi taaj hota hai (The real ruler is the one who wins the hearts of the people. Otherwise, even a chicken can have crown on its head.)
Dhuri is among the nine assembly segments within the Sangrur parliamentary constituency which Mann has been representing as Member of Parliament (MP) since 2014.
In the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections, Mann had secured leads of 34,000 and 24,000 votes respectively from the Dhuri segment; a fact which, no doubt weighed heavily on the AAP’s decision to field him from there since they considered it a ‘safe’ seat for him. Moreover, Mann has local connections here. Dhuri is not far from Satoj village, where Mann was born.
In the 2017 assembly polls in the state, Mann had contested unsuccessfully from Jalalabad in the Fazilka district against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) heavyweight Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Mann’s candidature from Dhuri, meanwhile, has upset local party leader Ashok Kumar Lakha, who was expecting a ticket from here. However, Mann even went to Lakha’s home to pacify him.
