Another twist in the Jalandhar bypoll tale: Bains brothers back BJP

The announcement by Simarjeet comes three months after he got bail in a rape case, after spending half-a-year in jail. His elder brother Balwinder Singh Bains is also a two-time (2012-2022) former MLA, from Ludhiana South.

The Bains brothers used to be in the Akali Dal, before parting ways with the Badals ahead of the 2012 Punjab Assembly polls. In 2012, they contested as Independents and won. Simarjeet lost in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana seat. Before the 2017 Assembly polls, they floated the LIP, backed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and both won their respective seats contesting on LIP tickets.

Their ties with the AAP, which emerged as the second-largest party in the 2017 polls, however, soon soured. The brothers cited the apology by AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to the Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia over allegations he had made against Majithia over the state’s drug racket, as the reason.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia (Express/Harmeet Sodhi)

However, in 2019, Simarjeet lost from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat. And in 2022, when the AAP wave swept the Punjab Assembly elections, neither brother could retain his seat.

Since then, the Bains brothers and LIP have been on a downward spiral. Because of their firebrand politics, including “sting operations”, their clout once extended far beyond the two seats in Ludhiana they represented. So much so that while submitting the chargesheet in the rape case, the police told the court that they feared that Simarjeet’s arrest could create a law and order problem.

Simarjeet’s sudden decision to support the BJP is being seen as an attempt to infuse new life into his political career as well that of the LIP, amidst the downslide since the rape allegation ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls. Simarjeet calls the case nothing but “vendetta”.

On his decision to back the BJP – his first major political move since his release on bail – Simarjeet said that other than the Akali Dal, he has never opposed any party “that works for Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat”. He expressed admiration for “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s love and care for the Punjabi community” and the BJP for “being the only party not dominated by a person or family”. “Modi has immense respect for the dastaar (turban),” he said, adding that even youths in Pakistan praise him.

On what he wants from the BJP, Simarjeet said he would urge its government at the Centre to allow khas khas (poppy) cultivation in Punjab, “to save underground water, strengthen the financial condition of our farmers, and save the youth from synthetic drugs”; to “strengthen trade ties with Pakistan for betterment of Ludhiana’s industry”; and to institute post-matric scholarship for Dalit students.

Even in January 2022, ahead of the Punjab state polls, Simarjeet had indicated to The Indian Express that he was open to an alliance with the BJP as “the three ‘black’ farm laws were gone and PM Modi had apologised for them”.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypolls are seen as a litmus test for the AAP government, as it had lost the first such by-election soon after coming to power last year. The Jalandhar election was necessitated due to the death of the sitting Congress MP.

In the run-up to the election, all the three main parties – Congress, AAP and BJP – have seen big-ticket defections.