Badal Junior wins big

The defeat suffered by the Congress in the Punjab Assembly elections would cement the position of SAD president and current Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in his own party.

The defeat suffered by the Congress,which was aiming to dethrone the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal Badal-BJP government,in the Punjab Assembly elections would cement the position of SAD president and current Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in his own party. There are no detractors left,while the one person who could have posed a challenge to him had the party lost,estranged cousin and former party colleague Manpreet Badal,stands totally decimated.

Other factors notwithstanding,it was Sukhbir8217;s carefully orchestrated campaign that was the biggest factor in the combine bucking anti-incumbency the first such instance in Punjab. While there could be renewed clamour for making him the chief minister,Sukhbir is said to be in favour of Badal Sr helming the state once again.

Sukhbir8217;s plan of action:

Four years ago,Badal Jr,who was appointed party president in January 2008,identified 70-odd constituencies where the party had a strong base. It took him another year to select candidates for these constituencies and,after consultations with father and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal,he asked these candidates to get active at the grass-roots level.

The earmarked candidates were told to consider local developmental and infrastructure needs and get the projects executed. Funds from the exchequer,he is learnt to have assured the candidates,would not be an issue.

Sukhbir8217;s main focus was Malwa region,the party turf that the Congress swept in the 2007 elections,mainly due to the backing of the controversial Sira-based Dera Sacha Sauda.

The man who likes to tell everybody that the SAD-BJP government works like a corporate house,with decisions taken in a matter of hours rather than files being kept pending for weeks,also prevailed upon the BJP national leadership to drop some sitting MLAs,including a few ministers,due to their unpopularity. This paid off today.

In an interview,Sukhbir told this newspaper that his party was fighting the elections on the issue of 8220;development8221; and 8220;performance8221;. 8220;For the first time ever,there is actually a wave in favour of the incumbent government due to the development works initiated by it. There is no anti-incumbency. Voters will reward us for our performance,8221; he had asserted. He touted the works done in the power sector.

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Aiding Sukhbir in his mission were wife and Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia,whom he had annointed chief of the youth wing of SAD. Harsimrat handled the crucial Malwa region.