Newly appointed Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu today arrived at Dera Sachkhand Ballan on Jalandhar-Pathankot National Highway. This would be Sidhu's fourth visit to Jalandhar in 20 days. The new Congress chief was accompanied by Executive Principal Sangat Singh Giljian.
Ravidas Samaj and others have great faith in Dera Sachkhand Ballan, which has a huge following across India and the world. The Doaba region of Punjab is the epicentre of Ravidas brotherhood that plays an important role in all the seats here.
To attract the votes of this community earlier, powerful leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Akali chief Sukhbir Badal had also visited the Dera in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Politically Sidhu's visit to the Dera Sachkhand Ballan is seen as a politically driven strategy to attract Dalit votes that would be needed for the upcoming assembly elections next year.
Amidst Sidhu's continuous visit to Jalandhar, his distance from two Congress MLAs Rajinder Beri and Sushil Rinku of Jalandhar, the main district of Doaba, which is considered a stronghold of Dalit politics, cannot be eliminated.
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Rajinder Berry, a close aide of former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, is observed to be hostile towards Sidhu. Berry's posts photos on social media regarding work, however, none can be seen of the programs that he has performed together with Sidhu.
At the same time, Rinku was seen with Finance Minister Manpreet Badal in the evening after meeting Sidhu at Jalandhar Congress Bhawan. Since then, he has been meeting Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh frequently.
Earlier, Navjot Sidhu had met former minister Avtar Henry and his MLA son Bawa Henry at their residence in Jalandhar on July 18. There they had held a meeting with MLA Pragat Singh and Sangat Singh Giljian. Following this meeting, Sidhu was formally announced to take the post of Punjab Congress head.
After Sidhu was elected the party chief, Sidhu stayed in Jalandhar on his way to Amritsar on July 20, where he was greeted by MLA Henry along with his supporters.
On July 29, Navjot Sidhu had reached Congress Bhavan after his coronation ceremony where he met with party workers. On that day, all the city MLAs were present to meet him.
Dalit politics has a stronghold in Jalandhar, Punjab. Several political parties - BJP, Congress, have a huge support base here. Given the assembly elections that would take place next year, the political atmosphere surrounding the Dalit community has already heated.
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Earlier, Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had arrived at Dera to announce the appointment of a Dalit face as Deputy CM.
Dalits seem no happy with Congress, especially the Dalit youth due to the problem in post-matric scholarship. Therefore, political parties are putting all their efforts to attract Dalit votes from this area that has about 33% Dalit population of the state.