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| Badal's development plank has few takers |
| Akshat Kaushal / Lambi (Mukhtsar) Jan 28, 2012, 00:15 IST |
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For someone fighting, perhaps, his last Assembly election, Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal couldn’t have asked for worse from his own constituency from where he won three times.
Besides facing stiff competition from his estranged brothers, even the development plank of Badal, which the SAD-BJP coalition is projecting as their major achievement, is finding few takers in his constituency, Lambi.
In a triangular contest, the chief minister has against him his younger brother, Gurdas Badal, who till recently was the political manager of the chief minister.
The junior Badal is now contesting the Assembly polls on a ticket from the People’s Party of Punjab, which his son, Manpreet Badal, formed. The other Badal in the fray is the chief minister’s first cousin and Congress’ candidate, Mahesh Inder Singh Badal.
The infighting in the Badal family has left the voters here in a dilemma over whom to vote. “If we had some work from the chief minister, we used to approach Gurdas Badal. Now that they have parted ways we are not sure whom to vote,” said Gyan Singh, a farmer in Lambi. In the CM’s constituency, a clear caste divide seems to have appeared among the voters.
While most people belonging to the upper caste have pledged their support to the CM, voters from the lower castes are not heaping praises on the chief minister’s achievements. Locals said a majority of population in Lambi belong to the lower castes.
“For five years when Badal was the CM, he never visited our homes. But, since the elections were announced he has been routinely visiting us and asking for our votes,” said Natha Singh, 40, a farm labourer. “Why should we vote for him now, when he was inaccessible for five years?” he added.
People in the constituency also appeared less hopeful of the various poll-promises that the CM has made. “The CM is promising free laptops, but how will he deliver them when the government has not fulfilled its earlier promises,” said Sukhraj Singh.
Political observers agree that for the CM, the fight is tougher than ever before. “Badal is finding it tough. He is facing a stiff competition from the Congress. The division of votes as a result of his younger brother leaving his party is also a worrying factor,” said Ashutosh Kumar, professor at the department of political science, Punjab University, Chandigarh.
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