constituency, with nearly 30 per cent of the 1.90 lakh voters belonging to this Scheduled Caste community.
The Kamboj community and some Other Backward Classes make up another big chunk of 50,000 voters.
Recently after a prolonged stand-off between SAD and Ghubaya, now a party MP from Ferozepur, ended with Ghubaya’s son Devinder Singh Ghubaya, joining Congress.
The Ghubaya’s belong to the Rai Sikh community and to offset their loss, Sukhbir has been reaching out to other Rai Sikh personalities in the constituency though his close aide SS Mintta.
Even as Mintta in the absence of Sukhbir, who has to campaign for his party candidates contesting from other seats, harps upon development works done during the Akali regime, there has been a strong under current against Sukhbir’s aide.
To underline the importance of Rai Sikh vote, locals point to Ghubaya’s two successive parliamentary wins, in 2009 and 2014, after he vacated the Jalalabad Assembly seat for Sukhbir in 2007.
The second time, he defeated Sunil Jakhar of Congress.
Though Mann, who has been camping here for weeks, has been drawing huge crowds in his campaign.
Ashok Aneja, president of SAD’s Fazilka district unit, says, “Though Mann is able to attract people to listen to him, he will not be able to convert these into votes. We all are here to see the poll campaign of SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal as he has to tour the whole of Punjab and once again his victory margin will be the highest.”
Sukhbir promised interest-free loans of Rs 10 lakh for youth to start their own business if the SAD-BJP combine returns to power.
He said the loans would be provided to the youth after giving them skill training so that they can become successful entrepreneurs.
He also announced that the SAD-BJP alliance would launch a massive drive to provide pucca houses to all the houseless in the state.
He assured the people that special emphasis would be given to the border belt, especially Ferozepur district, under this drive.
Pulling off a surprise victory from Ludhiana in 2014 Lok Sabha polls after being sent in as a replacement for Manish Tewari, Bittu, 41, is on a whirlwind tour of his constituency to have a connect with its people. MORE
(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
Source: dnaindia.com