After Jalandhar MP Sushil Rinku’s defection, AAP hunts for another Dalit face

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, March 29

After Aam Aadmi Party lost its lone sitting MP and declared candidate for forthcoming Lok Sabha poll, Sushil Rinku, to Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party in Punjab has started a hunt for a suitable Dalit face.

Front-runners

• Among the front-runners is ex- Akali MLA Pawan Tinu, who unsuccessfully contested Jalandhar LS poll in 2014
• AAP is in touch with SAD Banga MLA Sukhwinder Sukhi, who stood third in 2023 bypoll
• The party is also assessing the winnability of BJP North West Delhi MP Hans Raj Hans
• From insiders, AAP may field Joginder Mann, who had lost Assembly poll from Phagwara

Several names have begun doing the rounds. Among the frontrunners is former Akali MLA Pawan Tinu, a Ravidassia leader who has unsuccessfully contested Jalandhar LS elections in 2014. The other Akali leader with whom AAP leadership is learnt to be in contact is Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi, sitting Banga MLA, who had finished third to Sushil Rinku in the 2023 bypoll.

The AAP is also seemingly assessing the winnability of BJP North West Delhi MP and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans. The party leadership is also considering roping him to make it a tit-for-tat case by showing that even AAP can poach upon the leaders of the saffron party. The BJP has dropped Hans from among its list of candidates in Delhi. Hans had contested from Jalandhar parliamentary seat in 2009 but had lost to Congress’ MS Kaypee. Hans is a Valmiki leader, unlike the two Akali leaders in the reckoning. Hans, however, says that he is PM Narendra Modi loyalist and won’t ever ditch him. “I am not power-hungry,” he said.

There also is a buzz that instead of relying on an outsider, the AAP could consider the candidature of a person from within. If that happens, the party could consider the name of Majhbi Sikh leader Joginder Mann, who had unsuccessfully contested on AAP ticket from Phagwara. Mann, a former Congress minister, had reportedly been seeking ticket from Hoshiarpur earlier, but ever since Raj Kumar Chabbewal moved to AAP from the Congress, he is learnt to be interested in contesting from Jalandhar too. Joginder Mann visited Dera Sachkhand Ballan and Valmiki Ashram Rahimpur today.

Another AAP insider whose name is doing the rounds for contesting Jalandhar LS seat is Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh. Since AAP has already announced five of its Cabinet ministers as candidates for the Lok Sabha poll and has drawn flak for it, it is unlikely that AAP could list out a sixth minister for parliamentary elections.

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