OBC leaders in Punjab Congress accuse party of neglecting them over LS ticket

OBC leaders in Punjab Congress have accused the party of neglecting them, saying it has not fielded a single candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls so far in the state. The Other Backward Classes leaders have raised the demand for fielding candidates from their community in a letter to the Congress central leadership, amid the party ongoing ticket distribution process for the general elections.

The party is yet to decide candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats - Ferozepur, Sangrur, Bathinda and Anandpur Sahib. The Congress executive committee members from the OBC communities, including Surjit Singh Seota and Rajpal Singh, who is aspiring for the party ticket from Anandpur Sahib, said they were feeling “ignored and neglected” over denial of party tickets.

Claiming that OBCs constitute 33 per cent of Punjab's nearly 2.80 crore population, the backward community leaders warned the party, saying "ignoring" the community may affect the prospects of Congress nominees on several seats including Anandpur Sahib, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Patiala and Ferozepur. They said they had also approached the Congress Punjab affairs in-charge Asha Kumari and party's Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar, but they did not pay any heed to the OBC community grievances.

They demanded ticket for a OBC candidate from Anandpur Sahib parliamentary seat claiming that over 40 per cent voters of that constituency belong to their community. “If the claim for the Anandpur Sahib seat is ignored by the Congress, the OBC community will be compelled to field their candidate as independent,” they said. They said the party had denied ticket to an OBC candidate from Anandpur Sahib even in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Congress leader Rajpal Singh said the party should not ignore the OBC community's demand of the ticket from Anandpur Sahib.

The representation by OBC leaders came close on the heels of disappointment expressed by Congress leader Mohinder Singh Kaypee over denial of ticket from Jalandhar seat. Even six-time Congress MLA from Ludhiana (North) Rakesh Pandey was “unhappy” over the denial of the party ticket to him from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat. Congress nominee Ravneet Bittu Wednesday met Pandey to mollify him.

Several senior Punjab Congress leaders have also tried to persuade Kaypee to support Congress candidate Santokh Singh Chaudhary from Jalandhar. Kaypee had earlier threatened to contest as an independent candidate from Jalandhar. The Central Election Committee of the Congress is expected to hold a meeting in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the names of candidates on four remaining Lok Sabha seats.

(With inputs from agencies.)