BJP, AAP bank on party hoppers for Jalandhar West byelection

JALANDHAR: AAP and BJP on Monday announced their candidates for the July 10 Jalandhar West byelection. While AAP fielded Mohinder Bhagat, a BJP candidate in the 2022 assembly election from the same constituency, BJP named Sheetal Angural whose resignation as AAP MLA has necessitated the bypoll.

By fielding Mohinder, AAP appears to be expecting consolidation of Bhagat community voters who are in considerable number in the assembly segment. Angural comes from Ravidasia community, the other big SC community in the assembly segment.

Mohinder’s father Chunni Lal Bhagat represented the constituency thrice in the past, including when it was known as Ja landhar South before reorganisation, and remained a minster in the Parkash Singh Badal led SAD-BJP govt. He was made BJP legislature party leader in 2012 while Mohinder remained chairman of Punjab Medium Industry Development Board during SAD-BJP regime and vice-president of BJP.

In the run-up to the Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll, he switched from BJP to AAP. He was BJP candidate in 2017 also and lost to Sushil Rinku of Congress, who became AAP MP last year and was BJP candidate in the recent Lok Sabha election.

Mohinder’s family is a prominent sports goods manufacturer in Jalandhar and has two firms — Ceela International and Ceela Sports.

Like Jalandhar parliament bypoll and the general election, this assembly byelection also sees the trend of parties preferring turncoats. In fact, Angural was in BJP till a day before he was allotted AAP ticket ahead of the 2022 assembly elections and during the run-up to the parliamentary elections he returned to BJP along with MP Sushil Rinku. However, on Monday, he took potshots at AAP for ignoring its loyal and ordinary workers and preferring a leader with deep pockets for its ticket.