Badals confident, villagers refuse to commit

With hardly any posters or banners on the walls or roadside of the CM’s village, villagers refuse to divulge their loyalties towards any particular party. Most of them even refused to reveal their names. “It is a fight between devar and bhabhi and it is tough indeed. But why should we reveal our names, tomorrow you never know who wins or loses and we have to stay in the same village,” said a man at a cycle repair shop.

If you ask the CM’s estranged nephew Manpreet, who is contesting on the Congress symbol as a joint candidate of PPP-Congress and CPI, he confidently says, “This is not my first election, but I am feeling most confident. I know the mood of the masses. With the kind of response I received in the campaign, I am sure I will win. There were hurdles created by the ruling alliance, and even now they are using official machinery. It is a fight against the system by those who are fed up with the diktats of Akalis.”

Parkash Singh Badal’s daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal says, “I campaigned only to better my margin and not just to win this election. I know I will win. After a long time, the family had breakfast together. Sukhbir was looking confident of winning all the seats. So we all are relaxed.”

She added, “I was all set to get the security deposit of my brother-in-law forfeited had he contested on his own party symbol (PPP), the kite, but he played a game by using the hand (Congress symbol) with CPI support. Let all the forces come together. My margin will be better than before.”

Last time Harsimrat won by over 1.2 lakh votes, defeating former CM Amarinder Singh’s son Ranninder Singh.

In the village, the CM’s house is about half a km from Manpreet’s house. At one corner of the village sits Congress loyalist Mohinder Pal, who has decorated his kiosk with Congress buntings and posters. Except for this place, one cannot make out who the contestants are. Pal says, “The Badals pressurise villagers and so they don’t divulge their loyalties.”