Dares galore in Punjab poll season
Chandigarh: In a bitterly fought multi-cornered Punjab Assembly election, political leaders across parties are playing the dare game by throwing various challenges at rivals, asking them to contest only from one seat or play a 30-minute badminton match to prove their mettle.
Among the political leaders who have thrown challenges are Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his predecessor and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh and State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The game intensified after Congress fielded Channi from a second seat and SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia chose to take on Sidhu from the Amritsar East seat.
Channi is also fighting Bhadaur (SC) seat for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls, in addition to the Chamkaur Sahib (SC) constituency which he currently represents.
On Channi being fielded from two seats, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said, "I had said that according to our survey, Channi is losing from Chamkaur Sahib".
Channi had then dared Kejriwal to contest against him from any constituency in Punjab.
Not to be left behind, Sidhu, while filing his nomination from the Amritsar East seat, had dared his bete noire Amarinder Singh to leave Patiala and contest against him.
Sidhu had also challenged Shiromani Akali Dal's Bikram Singh Majithia, who had also entered the fray from Amritsar East, to fight only from the Congress leader's constituency and leave the Majitha assembly constituency.
It seemed Majithia had accepted the challenge and he will now be contesting from only one seat while the SAD leader's wife Ganieve Kaur will contest from Majithia assembly segment in his place.
"If you have so much guts and have faith in people then leave Majitha and fight from one seat here. Do you have the guts? Sidhu had dared Majithia a few days before the Akali leader announced his decision to fight only from Amritsar East on Tuesday.
Seeking to target his political rivals, Sidhu recently said, "These days even in their dreams they are seeing me and getting scared. A pack of jackals wants to hunt a lion".
However, confident of his win from his segment, the Congress leader maintained, "Where there is 'Dharma', there will be victory".
"Amritsar East is Congress' seat, it is a matter of prestige for us too, Majithia you have challenged us from our turf, you will be given a strong reply," Sidhu said.
Majithia, however, claimed that Sidhu will lose from the Amritsar East, accusing him of doing nothing for the people of the constituency.
Targeting Amarinder Singh, Sidhu dubbed him as a spent cartridge and dared the PLC chief to leave Patiala and contest from the Amritsar East after the ex-CM said he will not let the cricketer-turned-politician win.
The forme chief minister has predicted an "abysmal" defeat for Sidhu from the Amritsar East seat.
"I am not Majithia's uncle," Singh quips, reacting to Sidhu calling him so, even as the veteran leader terms "ridiculous" the State Congress chief's charge that he was behind SAD fielding Majithia against Sidhu.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has also dared the Channi government, saying he will quit politics if they bring any proof against his brother-in-law and Majithia, who has been booked in an NDPS case.
Kejriwal, however, had hit out at Sidhu and Majithia for indulging in a verbal spat and ignoring the issues plaguing people of the Amritsar East Assembly segment, calling them "political elephants".
Sidhu, who is famous for his one-liner "Sidhuisms", had also taken a dig at Amarinder Singh, especially over his party PLC's alliance with the BJP.
"Amarinder Singh is now talking of double engine government. Your own engine has since long been seized, black smoke is coming out from this engine...You cannot even walk properly," Sidhu had said in Amritsar.
Sidhu did not stop at this and had dared former chief minister Singh to play a badminton game with him for 30 minutes, and added that he will quit politics if he does so.
Political leaders are also sparing no opportunity to rubbish their rivals.
When a reporter recently pointed out to Kejriwal that his opponents don't like him calling AAP's chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann a fiercely honest person, the Delhi CM quipped, this is so because the opponents feel they are thoroughly corrupt.
Mann, a comedian-turned-politician, had also taken a jibe at the Punjab chief minister, saying Congress people are publicising that Channi solves problems, but which problems has he solved.
"When did Channi's government run. Their own problems have remained unresolved," he says referring to Punjab Congress infighting.
Mann goes on to say that the Congress could not handle even one Sidhu and now the party have taken one more, a reference to Sidhu Moosewala.
