Ex-Dy Speaker Babbu lays claim to BJP LS ticket from Gurdaspur

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Pathankot, March 5

Three-time ex-Sujanpur BJP MLA Dinesh Babbu has thrown his hat in the electoral ring by laying claim to the BJP ticket for the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat in the forthcoming General Elections.

With the clamour to field a local candidate growing with every passing day, Babbu, a former Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, made it clear that he was very much in contention for the party ticket. To indicate to his colleagues as well as his detractors that he is in the fray, he made it a point to be present in the workers’ meeting held on Sunday in Pathankot which was presided over by Kewal Dhillon, BJP state vice-president.

Babbu carries with him the experience of being the Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Food and Civil Supplies) in the Parkash Singh Badal government during a part of his first term as MLA from 2007 till 2012. He has remained the Sujanpur legislator thrice from 2007 till 2022. Babbu has also remained Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly for his full term of five years during his second term from 2012 till 2017. It was in the 2012 polls that he beat his nearest rival Vinay Mahajan of the Congress by a margin of 23,000 votes, which turned out to be the maximum margin among all the 117 seats of the Punjab assembly.

Sources say the fact that Babbu is a Rajput will stand him in good stead when it comes to selecting the candidate. “The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat has nearly 3 lakh Rajput voters. A majority of them are concentrated in the assembly seats of Bhoa, Pathankot, Dinanagar and Sujanpur. Kahnuwan block of Gurdaspur district also has a fair sprinkling of Rajput votes. Going by previous trends, this community is known to vote en bloc for a candidate of its caste. Babbu definitely holds an edge here when it comes to taking a final call on the candidacy,” said a senior party leader.

The other Hindu candidate in the fray is Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma. However, his rant against the party high command when Sunil Jakhar was appointed the state president is sure to go against him.

Babbu is responsible for bringing in the lift irrigation system in the 50 odd villages of the water-starved Dhar block, considered to be one of the most under-developed blocks of Punjab. Dhar forms a part of his assembly seat of Sujanpur. During his three terms as a BJP legislator, he brought in several development initiatives like co-education government college, KVK and a litchi .

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