Bikram Majithia High on Confidence in Punjab Poll Fight against Navjot Sidhu

Bikram Majithia is aware that he has a tough task ahead of him. Leaving the safe cocoon of his traditional seat of Majitha, from where he has been an MLA, to contest opposite Congress state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar East for the February 20 Punjab assembly election is not an easy decision.

But “this is what my heart told me”, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader tells News18.com. “I know most people like (Charanjit Singh) Channi. The Captain (Amarinder Singh) earlier contested from two seats to be safe but I could not do it. I thought hard. I feel that if I win from both I would have to give up one of the two seats. Giving up my traditional seat would upset those people who have always stood by me. But to leave Amritsar East after winning would mean that I had used the people of this area who have been waiting for justice and development. So I am confident and I know I will win from here.”

A child of controversy, Bikram Majithia who also happens to be the brother of former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was accused of a few offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. He has been accused of facilitating drug peddlers, but his party and the Badals who lead it have strongly stood by him, alleging that the cases are a part of political vendetta.

Sidhu has hinged his Punjab model on two main issues— justice in sacrilege cases and breaking the drug cartel. To this effect, he has taken on not just Captain Amarinder Singh but also his own party’s Charanjit Singh Channi government for going slow on both cases. In fact, in an embarrassment to the Congress and the Channi government, Sidhu declared that he would go on hunger strike if no arrests were made in the drugs case. In private he accused state home minister Sukhi Randhawa and CM Channi of being soft on Majithia.

But the Akalis sprung a surprise and a possible masterstroke by pitting Majithia opposite the man who made drug-free Punjab his mission and portrayed his rival as a narcotics kingpin.

“The biggest judges are the courts. Every court of law has acquitted me,” Majithia tells News18.com. “They have found nothing against me. This is all politically motivated. If they were keen to control drugs then the entire police force appointed by Captain and even Channi would have been changed and upright officers would have been appointed. I am not scared. They have political compulsions and they will do what they want to do.”

Majithia has bitter words for his opponent in Amritsar East. “It’s true that he won from here because of us that. That time he was with us. Today he is not on our side but with them, so he is now pointing fingers at me. He was like a brother but this is politics for some. I am not like him. He has used me but I will defeat him. Where has his development happened in his constituency? He talks about the Punjab model for the state but where is the model here?”

The Congress party is all set to announce its chief ministerial face and the odds seem to be in favour of Channi for now though nothing can be said for certain. But what if Sidhu is made the CM pick? “I will be very happy if they do so. This shows how the Congress used the Dalit card to flaunt Channi as a Dalit CM and then threw him away. This is typical of Rahul Gandhi and also of the Congress. It’s none of my business but look how they treated an 80 plus Captain Amarinder Singh. Was that the right way to get rid of him?”

While wrapping up it was too difficult to resist the temptation to ask how his wife came to contest from his old constituency Majitha? And wasn’t this the same dynasty politics they attacked Rahul Gandhi and Congress on? His wife Ganieve Grewal has been India’s representative of reputed auction house Christie’s. “I never asked her to contest. It was a party decision which I conveyed to her. And I barely get time but I want to campaign for her too,” says Majithia with a smile.

Bikram Majithia is reticent; not an avid one-liner orator like Sidhu. But he hopes that the Akali stronghold stamp and a need for change could help his chances in this constituency to take on Sidhu. And the fact that Sidhu is running a lacklustre campaign with his wife often pitching for him and not turning up, gives Majithia and his band of supporters confidence of taking sweet revenge.

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