Amid action against Bikram Singh Majithia, including registration of a case under NDPS Act against him, the ruling Congress in Punjab finaly settled for a debutant to take on the Shiromani Akali Dal stalwart from his stronghold Majitha. In the first list issued Saturday, Congress gave the ticket to Jagwinder Pal Singh alias Jagga Majithia, the brother of Sukhjinder Raj Singh alias Lali Majithia, who had thrice contested unsuccessfully on Congress ticked against the SAD leader from Majitha.
Lali earlier this month quit Congress to join Aam Aadmi Party.
Jagga used to work for Lali in Majitha. He, however, started working on projecting himself as an aspirant of the Congress ticket last year. Some top Congress leaders in state and Majha region wanted Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla to take on Majithia. However, the party ended giving ticket to Jagga, who is considered close to Aujla. Sources said no big leader was ready to contest against Majithia from Majitha from where he is a three time MLA.
The Congress has also given the ticket from Sri Hargobindpura to Mandeep Singh Ragnar Nangal, who is considered close to Cabinet minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa. Mandeep was unanimously elected Sarpanch of his village Ranger Nangal in 2018.
He has been given ticket from the youth quota on reserved seat. A contractor by profession, Mandeep had also sought the ticket during 2017 polls. The unpopularity of sitting Congress MLA Balwinder Laddi played a big role in Mandeep landing the ticket. The Congress initially wanted a top Dalit leader of state or the daughter of another Dalit leader to contest from Hargobindpura, but both declined.
The Congress has fielded Naresh Puri from Sujjanpur. Son of former Congress minister Raghunandan Puri, he had contested from the seat in Naresh Puri against the official Congress candidate in 2012 polls and secured more than 27,000 votes. Congress candidate Vijay Mahajan had bagged 22,994 votes losing to BJP candidate. In 2017, Naresh Puri had secured 28,675 votes against 30,209 polled by Congress candidate Amit Singh. BJP again won the seat.