After INDIA bloc partners — Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — decided to jointly contest the mayoral elections in Union Territory of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, there is a strong fear among the Congress leaders and party cadre in Punjab that the ruling party could dent its identity and vote bank in the State established over the years.
Even as the decision on jointly contesting the Lok Sabha election in Punjab has not yet materialised, a sense among a section of Congress leaders and workers is that the Congress, which is the main Opposition party in the State, has been aggressively raising its voice against the ruling AAP government’s “poor governance” in its past two-year regime, and if the party joins hand with the ruling party, then it could dent its identity among people.
Also, a section of the party feels that the Congress would fail to take advantage of the anti-incumbency sentiments against the AAP government, and eventually the space of “main Opposition” could either be seized by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) or the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
