Villagers oppose ‘move’ to deny ticket to Tej Parkash

jalandhar: while the entire congress leadership of punjab is camping in delhi in the race for party tickets, and the shortlist of candidates is being kept closely guarded by the high command, a revolt is brewing at the grassroot level in some of the constituencies, here, over a report that sitting mlas are not being given party tickets as had been decided by the leadership, earlier, at the panchmarhi meet of the congress.there were plans to unseat many a sitting mla and the victim of one such conspiracy was alleged to be jalandhar cantt mla tej parkash singh, son of the late slain chief minister, beant singh. grassroot level leaders of this constituency, on hearing reports that their mla might be denied the ticket, were up in arms, vowing to set up a rebel candidate as they felt it was unjust and unfair not to give a ticket to a person who had won in 1997 and had done a lot for the development of the constituency. many of the committed congress sarpanches expressed their anger at such a move and said they would revolt. interestingly, the jalandhar cantt seat has a unique record: it has not been won by any candidate twice. so the woman candidates who have applied may have some reason to cheer. the sitting mla,tej parkash, was once considered an outsider, but according to congress workers from this constituency, continued the good work of his father and found a way into people's hearts. however, the fact that apart from him only women have applied, one of them being related to a congress mp and another the daughter-inlaw of a veteran congress family, it is being suspected that there is a clever ruse to declare this a women's seat, and so get rid of the sitting mla. some villages in this constituency are considered crucial for any candidate's win because of their large size. one such village is pattara, whose sarpanch pargat singh told the times of india:''we have over 10,000 votes in our village and at least one third are congress votes.we have learnt from reports that the sitting mla's application may be rejected and the candidature of a woman was being accepted. tej parkash has done a lot of development work. roads are the best here. "there is a plus two school within one km of every village, there is drinking water for all, veterinary hospitals, dispensaries and health centres have been set up all over the constituency. congress workers will revolt if tej parkash does not get the ticket. former sarpanch of nangal fatehkalan, jaswant singh bansal, shared these views. sarpanch of muzzafarpur, gurnam lal, said: ''we will vote for the individual in case the party decides to allot this seat to another person. maluk singh, sarpanch, johlan village, said: ''there will be a revolt.