Punjab polls straight fight between Congress and AAP

The upcoming Punjab Assembly polls could see a straight fight between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party as the SAD-BJP combine is facing anti-incumbency. While the Congress and the SAD have strong faces — Amarinder Singh and Sukhbir Singh Badal — as the chief ministerial candidate, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to announce its candidate for the top post too.

The Assembly polls are crucial for the Congress and the ruling SAD but not for the BJP since the latter is a junior partner of the SAD and thus has no major stake.

An authoritative source in the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday said the atmosphere is in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab because the Congress minus Capt. Amarinder Singh is not a force.

“Our fight will be with Amarinder Singh and not with the Congress,” he said.

The Congress has been out of power in Punjab for nearly 10 years.

In the last Assembly polls, the party high command had projected Capt. Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate but factional fights and lack of correct electoral strategy gave the SAD-BJP a second term.

The Opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have already building up the election campaign on the twin issues — growing drug addiction and corruption in Punjab — while the SAD can retain its power a third time only by polarising people on emotional issues or exploiting weaknesses of the two rival parties.

Aam Aadmi Party sources claim that pre-poll surveys are in its favour as the people want a change for better and not by the same old faces and parties.

The name of Sardar Sucha Singh Chhotepur is doing the rounds as the SAD’s chief ministerial candidate.

Capt. Amarinder Singh, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will be real players in the Punjab battle which could be held in the next 13 months.

For the Congress, a victory in Punjab will boost the morale of the party workers in Uttar Pradesh going to the polls in the next 15-16 months.

And if the Aam Aadmi Party gets the Opposition’s space, it could help it in emerging as an alternative to the mainstream parties outside Punjab.