FARIDKOT: It was a tossup between the mother and the daughter and finally the daughter was told to file nominations as the Congress candidate from the Faridkot Parliamentary constituency just hours before the nominations were closed.
Since it was all in the family, neither Gurbinder Kaur Brar nor her daughter Kanwaljit Kaur (Babli) Brar were hassled by the uncertainty. The senior Brar is a veteran politician, having remained a minister for several years and chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee while her daughter’s only attempt to get into Parliament was stymied by her defeat in the 1985 election.
That fact does not seem to bother her a bit,” My chances of winning are 400%, says Babli Brar confidently.
Pitted against two “slightly” younger rivals, Sukhbir Singh Badal (33) of Shiromani Akali Dal and Jagmeet Singh Brar (37) who has now decided to contest as an independent, Babli Brar has been in the midst of politics since her childhood. Her father, Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar, has been in active politics ever since he won his first election in 1957, while her mother has had a long innings in politics.
Her opponents, however, say that she has been “para-dropped” in the constituency and is solely banking on the influence of his father, She is also miles behind her two main rivals as. Far as campaigning is concerned. An aggressive speaker, she minces no words while criticizing the cult of “terrorism”
Whether or not she had been “compelled,” as he puts it, by the people of the constituency to stand for elections, the Congress candidate says that the security considerations are has switched loyalties too often. My main contest would be with Badal,” she says as she lashes on tat the Badals,
“Where were they when the state was passing through a turmoil? Why did they send out their children abroad during that period? We had faced militancy and had even lost some relatives, what is the explanation for ‘selling’ Punjab’s water to Haryana for a consideration of Rs one crore? ‘What have they done for the farmers? Can the mere salary of CM purchase so much land and property. I would like them to answer all these questions,” she stresses.
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Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1996
