Punjab loves Team Manpreet,never mind the votes

Manpreet says he has made the economy the poll plank as it is about the Punjabi pride

His call for a change in the status quo is not without its takers. In a state where agriculture and industry have declined,the ruling familys rebel,Manpreet Badal,has tried to use that as his poll plank. His speeches are drawing the crowds,and his call for awakening the Punjabi pride has caught the fancy of many among the youth.

It is another matter,though,whether all that translate into votes.

Ever since I turned 18,I have voted for either the Congress or the Akali Dal, says Mohit Butta,24,a businessman in Khanna. But Khanna has not changed. The roads,sanitation and power remain bad. The new hope is the Peoples Party of Punjab. In a seat that has been rotating between the Congress and the Akalis,it is PPP candidate Gurpreet Bhatti who,Butta says,has nurtured the constituency.

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Elsewhere,Manpreet has the support of Sarabjit Singh,34,a businessman in Zirakpur. Sarabjit,who owns a factory,is campaigning door to door for Bhagwant Singh,the PPPs Dera Bassi candidate,though his chances look slim in a quadrangular contest between the Congress,the Akali Dal and their respective rebels. He is talking of ridding the state of corruption,drugs,alcoholism and the downslide in the economy. At least he has an agenda, says Singh.

In Amargarh,the PPP has fielded Ajit Singh Chandurian,who lost to Congress MLA Razia Sultana by a slender margin in 2007. Here too it is Chandurians personal appeal that seems to be impressing voters.

The clean record that nearly all PPP candidates have,however,contrasts with the disadvantage of their political inexperience.

Another factor that could reflect in the results for Manpreets fledgling front will be rebels. Though PPP candidates such as Didar Bhatti of Fatehgarh Sahib and Bir Devinder from Mohali may not dent the votebank of the Akali Dal and the Congress,the major parties rebels are expected to affect the final arithmetic in other seats such as Balachur and Khanna.

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Amid talk of the voice of the aspirational Punjabi against that of the resentful Punjabi,the Congress Amarinder Singh says they are the same. The unemployed youth of Punjab is both aspirational and resentful and has taken to drugs and alcoholism. So have they found a voice in Manpreet? Amarinder says poll surveys have given the PPP just a five per cent vote share.

Manpreet says he has made the economy the poll plank as it is about the Punjabi pride. If we keep begging for debt waivers,Punjab will stop being respected, he says. And about the five per cent,he says,If poll surveys were to decide the verdict,why have polls? Dont underestimate the mood for change.