Punjab BSP chief faces stiff challenge in Mahilpur

Hoshiarpur, Feb 7 (UNI) Punjab BSP President Avtar Singh Karimpuri is facing an uphill task in the Mahilpur (reserve) Assembly constituency.

He is pitted against six contestants, including the sitting Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Sohan Singh Thandal and Dr Dilbagh Rai of the Congress, who is contesting his first Assembly election. It will be a triangular contest among the BSP, the SAD and the Congress in this predominantely rural segment of 10,08,55 voters, including 49,520 women.

Mr Thandal had defeated Karimpuri in the last polls by a margin of 8280 votes and the Congress candidate had secured third position.

This time, too, the contest is likely to be a repeat of the previous poll.

The BSP has put up candidates in all the 117 constituencies, but the battle in Mahilpur is the most prestigious for the party. Mr Karimpuri was handpicked by BSP supremo Ms Mayawati to lead the party in 2003.

The elevation of Karimpuri to the top state post annoyed a number of senior BSP leaders who raised a banner of revolt. As expected the BSP Chief threw them out of the party, which proved to be a body blow to the party. The party is yet to recover from the toss and its base over the years amongs the Dalits had eroded.

The problems of Dr Rai stem from within his own party, as at the time of allotment of tickets his name did not figure among the top three aspirants.The frontrunner for the Congress ticket was Rakesh Ahir, who had resigned from the post of Deputy Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. Mr Kulwinder Singh Rasoolpur, Ram Rattan, the Vice President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) and Gurmail Singh, a former minister were the other aspirants for the ticket.

The ticket aspirants are yet to jump into the fray in support of the Congress candidate.

Mr Karimpuri, who had won from here in the 1992 Assembly election, when the Akalis had boycotted the polls, is banking on the dalit votes which constitute almost half of the total electorate.

The BSP chief is scheduled to address a rally convassing for her party candidate.

On the other hand, the SAD candidate is counting heavily on the Jat Sikh voters, who had voted for him in the last two elections.

Mr Thandal, who had made his maiden entry to the Vidhan Sabha from Mahilpur in the 1997 polls, is seeking his third straight win from this constituency.

Going by statistics and the results of the previous two elections, the Dalit and backward class votes are likely to be divided between the Congress and the BSP, while SAD is expected to pocket a major chunk of the Jat Sikh votes. Another factor that is weighing heavily in favour of the SAD candidate is that his supporters have unleashed a campaign that if the SAD-BJP comes to power in the state, Mr Thandal would get a ministerial berth.

UNI