Dakha: Amid AAP’s ‘dhokha’, Congress’s jinxed fights, a hope for SAD

Iss vaar nahi khawange dhokha, dawange Kejriwal tey Bhagwant Mann nu mauka, reads the campaign posters of AAP candidate KNS Kang in Dakha. A group of elderly villagers sitting under a tree, meanwhile, wonder which “dhokha (betrayal)” is the AAP talking about.

“In fact, it is the AAP which betrayed us. We elected HS Phoolka in 2017 but he resigned. Which mauka is AAP asking for? We gave them one in 2017,” said a villager.

In the constituency plagued with problem of drug addiction and families mourning their dead sons, voters seem a little wary of AAP.

In Dakha, which opted for ‘badlaav’ in as early as 2014 when ‘jhaaru’ wave swept the region during Lok Sabha polls, the stakes have only got higher. Phoolka who contested Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana in 2014, had polled maximum votes from Dakha segment even as Congress’s Ravneet Singh Bittu had won the seat. In 2017, Phoolka continued the winning streak and was elected Dakha MLA.

In 2019, Phoolka then resigned in middle of his tenure in protest against ‘inaction in sacrilege cases.’ People elected Shiromani Akali Dal’s Manpreet Singh Ayali in 2019 bypoll, necessitated after Phoolka’s resignation. AAP candidate Amandeep Singh Mohie even lost his security deposit in 2019 bypoll.

While SAD is leaving no stone unturned to retain the seat, Congress is looking to break the jinx of losses that began in 2007. The 2019 bypoll loss was the fourth consecutive one for Congress from Dakha. AAP, meanwhile, is trying to revive its fortunes.

The battle now is among three crorepati candidates — SAD’s Ayali (47), a two-time MLA and a realtor; Congress’s Captain Sandeep Sandhu (52), the former political advisor of Capt Amarinder Singh who lost bypoll in 2019; and Kang (56), an educationist who admits that people are “visibly angry” with AAP.

At the village Latala, where posters with the slogan ‘Assi Manpreet Ayali de naal haan’ can be seen, the ambience gets euphoric as children shower petals on Ayali’s arrival.

Ayali is banking on the development works done during his two tenures and also reminds voters of how AAP “cheated” them.

“Five years back, Congress came to power in Punjab but Dakha voted for AAP’s Phoolka. He was from Delhi. He did not even know names of villages. It is not just votes, but also notes (money) that people gave to AAP. People donated crores,” says Ayali, tearing into AAP. Then he reminds them how they voted for him in 2019 despite him being from an Opposition party. “You made me victorious. It shows people of Dakha cannot be intimidated”.

Terming Congress’s Sandhu an ‘outsider’, Ayali says the leader was with Amarinder before rallying behind Partap Singh Bajwa and again going back to Amarinder when latter became the CM. “And now, he has shifted to Charanjit Singh Channi’s camp. He supports sand mafia and land encroachers,” says Ayali. The Akali leader also talks about I-T raids at his premises and claims no wrongdoing was detected.

For Sandhu, a former Merchant Navy professional, the shift of his political overtone has been tectonic, to say the least. From his slogan of ‘Dakhe da Apna Captain’ and ‘Captain’s Lieutenant’ in 2019 bypoll, Sandhu is now vouching for ‘People’s CM Channi’ and terms Amarinder’s ouster as the real ‘badlaav’.

“Main chunaav haareya, par dil ni haareya (I lost polls not the heart),” says Sandhu referring to 2019 loss, adding that he continued to work for Dakha for 2.5 years and got development projects worth crores. “You have seen what I did despite not being an MLA,” he tells voters.

“People are talking about badlaav, however the real badlaav came five months back when an aam aadmi became our CM,” says Sandhu

Amarinder’s new party Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) has fielded Damanjeet Singh Mohie, a former Youth Congress leader from Dakha.

Kang, who owns PCTE Group of Institutes, admits that Phoolka’s resignation is hurting AAP this time.

“People’s concern is not wrong. They felt abandoned, but Phoolka went for a bigger cause as he had to fight for 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims,” he says, but adds that “people are angry with AAP but not to an extent that they won’t vote for us again,” says Kang.