The big fight: Playing out in Punjab’s Ludhiana, Congress state chief Raja Warring vs ‘traitor’ Bittu

If Warring is facing an uphill task against his “outsider” tag, Bittu is trying to convince voters to support him despite shift to the BJP. The Ludhiana seat, which votes on June 1 with the rest of the 12 constituencies in Punjab, has been won by the Congress in the last three elections – Manish Tewari (2009) and Bittu (2014 and 2019).

Rubbishing the BJP’s claims of Warring being an “outsider”, former Congress MLA Surinder Dawar says: “Being the Punjab Congress chief, Warring can contest from anywhere in the state. If Rahul Gandhi can contest from Wayanad and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi from Varanasi, why not Warring from Ludhiana?”

For Warring, for whom this poll battle goes beyond his native rural hinterlands of Muktsar to the urban setting of Ludhiana – it’s also about coming out of his comfort zone but he seemingly is taking the challenge head-on.

Warring and his wife Amrita tell voters that they are not “seasonal birds” and will stay on to address people’s issues even after the election.

Warring is also telling voters how his parents died when he was just a child, and was “a self-made man”. “He is criss-crossing the constituency and is making night halts at various leaders’ houses,” a Congress leader says.

Warring while playing badminton during campaigning in Ludhiana.

Seeking votes for Bittu, BJP leaders say that while he was in the Congress, he is a perfect fit for the BJP. “He has always been a nationalist. He is vocal against Khalistanis. His grandfather gave up his life for Punjab and the country (Beant Singh was assassinated by Khalistani extremists). Despite being a Sikh, he has always spoken for all communities,” former BJP district president Parveen Bansal says.

Warring, seeking to find his feet in the seat, lists all the political battles he has won. “I am a three-time MLA from Gidderbaha in Muktsar district, the stronghold of the Badals. The Congress must have seen something in me as it picked me to take on bigwigs like (former Punjab minister) Manpreet Singh Badal and (former Union minister) Harsimrat Kaur Badal… If I am elected, you will see me on TV raising issues of Ludhiana,” he tells voters in the upscale Rose Garden area, before proceeding to try his hand at cricket with a group of youngsters.

Later in the day, in a turban and a white kurta, Warring switches from Hindi to Punjabi as his campaign enters the rural Gill Assembly segment, one of the nine falling under the Lok Sabha seat. Here he pleads with voters to teach “gaddar (traitor) Bittu” a lesson. “Congress party di pitth vich churra marreya ehne (He is a backstabber). Had he not run away, then Raja Warring might not have been here today. I am here to fight against Bittu’s betrayal,” Warring says as he reminds people that despite a Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wave in the 2022 Assembly polls, he had won on a Congress ticket.

The Congress is also attacking Bittu for using the image of Beant Singh, a staunch Congressman, to suit himself, and removing it when he came under attack. “Height of political opportunism,” Warring said in a post on X last week. Bittu reacted by sharing a picture of Beant Singh outside the BJP office.

Warring also trains guns at AAP, an INDIA bloc ally outside Punjab, and slams Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for “rampant drug peddling” in the state and for the killing of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.

The AAP has fielded sitting Ludhiana Central MLA Ashok Prashar Pappi from the seat while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has picked former legislator Ranjit Singh Dhillon as its nominee.

Warring’s promises include “protecting the environment in Ludhiana”, and “setting up of bigger hospital than Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), the largest private medical institution in the district.

Bittu promises a government medical facility like the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) or AIIMS. “How many children of ours will you send abroad? We need development here,” he says.

Message to farmers

Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu

In rural areas, where Bittu and other BJP leaders have been facing backlash from farmers over the legal guarantee for MSP, the BJP candidate says only the BJP and Modi can solve farmer issues. “As the Punjab Congress chief, did he (Warring) ever sit in protest alongside farmers even for a single day? Did he protest against Moosewala’s murder?” he questions.

In Baba Kalsian Dera of Atam Nagar Assembly segment, Bittu urges voters to add Ludhiana to “Modi’s garland of 400 seats”. “We need a bridge between the Centre and the farmers, and I will try and become that. Why is Ludhiana, despite being an industrial hub, lagging behind Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida? Only Modi can give us money for development. It is the MP’s job to get money from Delhi for his constituency. I failed to do it while being in the Opposition for 10 years,” he tells the crowd.

The two-time MP also does not fail to remind voters of what Modi has “done for all communities” – from the Ram Temple to opening the Kartarpur Corridor.

‘I was king in Congress’

Terming his switch to the BJP as a “sacrifice”, Bittu says he did so “for the sake of Punjab’s development”. “I was maalik (king) in the Congress, thanks to the great sacrifice of Beant Singhji. I have decided to start from scratch again in the BJP only for the sake of Ludhiana and Punjab’s development… Do you think the Congress or AAP can form the next government (at the Centre)?” he asks.

In his new avatar, Bittu has also been doing the rounds of his constituency sporting a tilak and visiting religious congregations in temples and deras. Citing all this, Bansal says: “He now does not hesitate chanting Jai Shri Ram along with Sat Sri Akal. What more do we need?”