As campaigning picks up pace for the Lok Sabha poll in Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib, sitting Shiromani Akali Dal MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and Congress candidate Manish Tewari are engaged in a fierce battle of words, tagging each other as “outsider”.
The electoral battle in one of the holiest places of the Sikhs has turned into a multi-cornered contest with candidates of the Congress, the SAD, the Aam Aadmi Party and the breakaway faction of Akali Dal — the Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) — and others in the fray.
With the Congress fielding Mr. Tewari, the SAD has been attacking him for being an “outsider” to the Lok Sabha seat.
“These elections are going to be a referendum on the non-performance of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. Several villages in the constituency are boycotting Mr. Chandumajra and he has realised that given the anger against him, due to his non-performance, he is going to lose badly in the election. Fearing an apparent defeat, Mr. Chandumajra and his party are calling me an ‘outsider’, which is absurd,” Mr. Tiwari told The Hindu .
“I was born and brought up in Chandigarh, which is surrounded by the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency from three sides, so how come I am an outsider?. In fact, Mr. Chandumajra is an outsider as he belongs to Patiala,” added Mr. Tewari.
Mr. Chandumajra has been hitting out at the Congress for fielding an “outsider”, saying that it reflects that the Congress has dearth of leaders in Anandpur Sahib.
Among the other candidates in the fray for the May 19 election are AAP’s Narinder Shergill and Bir Davinder Singh of the SAD (Taksali).
