A ‘parachute’ candidate, ex-Union minister’s son pitches his local connect

But with just few days left to campaign and a sulking former Barnala MLA, Kewal Dhillon, who was denied ticket by the Congress, Manish Bansal has his task cut out.

His social media team is pushing a slogan ‘Aao Chaliye Bansal Naal (let’s walk with Bansal). A shop owner at Barnala’s main market said: “The slogan is trying to target the Baniya community in particular and Hindu vote bank in general as the constituency has a large share of Hindu vote bank. We haven’t seen any Hindu candidate from this seat in the past two decades…Som Dutt was the only Hindu face who had won in 1992 from Barnala.”

Narain Dutt, an activist based in Barnala, said, “We have heard that they belong to Tapa but they themselves have come to the area just now. Meeting relatives and staying politically active in the area are two different things. Let’s see how he covers the whole area.”

Amit Mittal, another Barnala resident, added, “He has got hardly 15 days to campaign. Whether former MLA Kewal Dhillon, who was the main ticket contender, will help him is something that remains to be seen. Their roots are from Tapa. That’s ok, but Barnala never saw them on the political front in the area ever.”

Bansal is pitted against AAP’s sitting MLA Meet Hayer, SAD’s Kulwant Singh Keetu, SSM’s Abhikaran Singh and BJP’s Dheeraj Kumar.

Kewal Dhillon, who had remained MLA from Barnala in 2007 and 2012, had lost in 2017 by about 2,400 votes. In 2019, Dhillon had contested Lok Sabha election from Sangrur, but had lost to AAP’s Bhagwant Mann by over a lakh of votes. In Barnala, he had lagged by over 6,000 votes.

“Winnability factor matters a lot for the party. Survey of winnability was the reason to change candidate for this seat. I am sure that Dhillon, who is upset as of now, will walk soon with Bansal,” said a member of Bansal’s campaign team.

Kewal Dhillon, meanwhile, met his supporters Monday morning in protest of fielding a new candidate. Later on Monday evening, CM Charanjit Singh Channi reached his place to pacify him. So far, many local Congressmen have joined Bansal, but not Dhillon.

Bansal, who is Additional Advocate General, Punjab, said, “I am not new to politics, I remained part of Youth Congress, NSUI as well apart from being a practising advocate.”

Bansal’s family’s village Tapa falls in Bhadaur constituency from where Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi is contesting.

“He is telling about his chacha and bhua who belong to Tapa. But I remember that one of their relatives was in liquor business and was also at loggerheads with farmers of the area. We haven’t found any contribution of his relatives to the area. They have come back to their roots and that’s it,” said a Barnala resident.

Another resident Amit Mittal added that given that Barnala is a semi-rural seat witnessing a multi-cornered contest, no one know what the counting day would reveal.