CHANDIGARH: Three of Punjab’s five municipal corporations – Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Phagwara – have fragmented electoral mandates, with the Congress worried about the prospect of bargaining by its India Bloc ally, the ruling AAP. Such is this desperation that there are rumors that the Congress has even joined hands with the BJP in Ludhiana to keep AAP out.
Leader of Opposition in Parliament Partap Singh Bajwa told TOI: “If an EVM machine can be compromised, how long does it take to compromise a member.”
He claimed that the AAP “will not only try to poach people in companies where there is no clear majority, but even in Amritsar and Phagwara where the Congress has a majority (the Congress won 22 seats out of 50 , but did not reach a majority of 26 seats) to poach.
MPs accuse AAP of past poaching Arvind KejriwalThe party has attracted former members Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was elected to Hoshiarpur MP on an AAP ticket this year, and Sushil Kumar Rinku. The person is a former Jalandhar MP who later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
He also mentioned former SAD officer Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, who won the Jidbahar by-election on an AAP ticket.
“Their entire policy is deception,” Bajwa said, adding that the poll verdict was “completely against the AAP government in Punjab”.
BJP veteran Manoranjan Kalia said there are no anti-defection laws in business. “In Jalandhar and Ludhiana, the number of people required to get a simple majority is very small. So, bargaining will come into play. The writing is on the wall.”
With AAP failing to reach half-way, speculation is rife that the BJP and Congress are not opposed to joining hands to form a committee in Ludhiana. The BJP and Congress have a total of 49 members.
“Congress and BJP MPs are trying to repeat the history of 1992,” said Congress district president Sanjay Talwar. The BJP has so far remained silent on the possibility.
