Keen contest on cards for Bhattal in her bastion

One is a Congress heavyweight, trying to retain her grip over the seat she has represented for two-decades-and-a-half, and the other son of a top-ranking Akali Dal leader, seeking to replicate his father's success story.
The high-profile Lehragagga Assembly seat in Punjab is all set to witness a keen contest between Congress heavyweight and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Akali Dal's Parminder Singh Dhindsa, the state's finance minister.
Dhindsa's father Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, a Rajya Sabha MP and minister in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had defeated Bhattal way back in 1972 when they crossed swords in an assembly poll.

A resurgent AAP has fielded political novice Jasbir Singh Kudani, who is trying to make the contest triangular.
After losing once in 1985, Bhattal has been unbeatable in Leharagagga, having won five times since.
Parminder, on the other hand, has been shifted from Sunam, a constituency he represented since 2000 after winning the election at the age of 27.

A major reason for Parminder shift to Lehragagga was the anger of the farming community against him. Darshan Singh, a farmer had committed suicide after consuming poison outside Parminder's residence at a protest held by organisations of farmers and labourers. The local administration had claimed the deceased was not a farmer, provoking anger of the farming community.

"Parminder Dhindsa betrayed and ran away from Sunam. Dhindsa needs to explain what made him run away from Sunam and betray the people," Bhattal says meeting after public meeting.
She alleges Dhindsa did nothing worthwhile as state's finance minister and also failed to look after his constituency which lacks basic amenities like roads and sewerage, besides adequate drinking water.
Bhattal says she has been serving the people of Lehragagga with dedication for the last 25 years, taking care of the weak and poor.
She promises the electorate that Lehragagga will be made a district, opening new vistas for development.
Parminder trashes the 'outsider' tag and insists he has done a lot of development work for even Lehragagga let alone Sunam.

"Some 16 schools have been upgraded here as education is my priority," he tells people, adding it was at his behest that a sewerage line was built in Lehragagga.
On taming of river Ghaggar which creates havoc during
monsoon, Parminder Dhindsa claims a lot of work has been done under his instructions.
Lehragagga was a high-profile constituency even before it became Bhattal's bastion. It had shot into prominence when towering Akali leader Harchand Singh Longowal won the seat in 1969.
Despite being a VIP constituency, Lehragagga is one of the most backward areas in Malwa belt of Punjab with poor infrastructure and inadequate employment opportunities.

"This is a poor and neglected part of Punjab. The farmers here are in acute distress and reeling under heavy debt," says farmer Tarsem Singh.
A number of private educational institutions have come up, many of them after buying large tracts of farmland. Even Bhattal is said to own one such institution.
Its emergence as an educational hub for the Malwa region and Haryana's northern districts has shaped the town's economy significantly. One can see a disproportionately large number of coaching centres, photocopying, printing and textbook shops at Lehragagga.
Many youngsters here dream of going abroad and there are several English speaking coaching classes and visa assistance units at Lehragagga.

Apparently, the youngsters' craze for the west is such that in many areas pizza and burger joints outnumber traditional sweet shops and tea vends. A large number of beauty parlours with western names have also sprouted across the dusty little town.
Many young voters seem to be impressed by AAP.
"SAD-BJP and Congress have done nothing for us. There aren't enough opportunities here," says Gurdeep, a commerce student. A first-time voter, Gurdeep intends to vote for AAP.
However, the elders in the town claim Bhattal will sail through for the sixth time.
"Akalis have deployed their finance minister to take on Bhattal. For years they discriminated against this area because it was a Congress bastion. She will definitely win," says A K Garg, a shopkeeper.

Interestingly, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Lehragagga was the only Assembly segment in Sangrur Parliamentary seat where the SAD was leading. All the rest went into AAP's kitty. In that election, AAP's Bhagwant Mann had defeated SAD's Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa by over two lakh votes.