PPP gaining ground, slow and steady Having caught the fancy of the youth, it is now a force to reckon with

Chandigarh, January 16
The mere 10-month-old People’s Party of Punjab, which suffered a series of setbacks a few weeks ago with its frontline leaders defecting to either the Congress or the SAD, appears to have recovered much of the lost ground.
The party has begun to give sleepless nights to the Congress and the SAD-BJP alliance in several assembly segments. Reports from the field indicate that PPP candidates, contesting under the umbrella of the Sanjha Morcha, a coalition of four parties, have started gaining ground in various constituencies.
The SAD and the Congress are a worried lot as the parties are yet to figure out as to which party will be affected the most with the PPP gaining ground among the voters. While the SAD leadership has been claiming that the Congress will be affected most, the latter maintains that the PPP will eat into the SAD-BJP vote bank.
It is too early to say what the performance of the PPP and its allies (CPI, the CPM and the SAD-Longowal) will be in the coming assembly elections, but one can say with certainty that the PPP will determine the outcome of the elections.
The party has caught the imagination of the youth. The PPP chief, Manpreet Badal, who has single-handedly raised the party from next to nothing, has infused hope in them. Manpreet has provided a new political idiom and to some extent a new meaning to the state’s politics.
He has played a vital role in making politics issue-based. Credit goes to him for bringing state’s ailing economy to the centre stage. He has made several socio-economic issues a part of his public discourse.
On the way to building the party, Manpreet saw some of his close associates lured away by the Congress and the SAD. The biggest jolt came when his two lieutenants, Jagbir Singh Brar and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, deserted him. His opponents started questioning his ability to raise a party. They ridiculed him for failing to keep his flock together with some saying he was arrogant.
But Manpreet always held that his party’s main stake- holders were the people themselves, yearning for change and freedom from an exploitative system.
Among the PPP’s frontline leaders now are Bhagwant Mann, Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, Kuldeep Singh Dhose and Harnek Singh Gharuan. Manpreet’s main adviser is Dr SS Johl. Bir Devinder Singh is back with him.
Of the 117 seats, Sanjha Morcha has put up candidates on 115 seats-the PPP has fielded 91 candidates, the CPI 14, the CPM 8 and the SAD-Longowal 2.
The Sanja Morcha has not put up any candidate in Abohar and Dera Baba Nanak. Among the PPP candidates are doctors, advocates, technocrats, artistes, sportspersons and progressive farmers. At least 85 of them are fresh faces. The average age of the PPP candidates is 50.
Manpreet says his party has caught the people’s fancy like no party in the past. “There were certain persons who were not committed to a struggle and they quit the PPP. It is not uncommon for people to lose nerve on the way and opt out,” he explains. “We are gaining ground everyday. People listen to our candidates attentively. They are impressed by our programme and the first 100 days’ agenda. We will perform far better than our opponents expect and in some segments, our candidates’ performance will surprise political observers,” he claims. “Our biggest asset is the younger generation, which will decide the state’s tomorrow,” claims Manpreet, who has travelled about 1,90,000 km since October 2010, when he was thrown out of the Shiromani Akali Dal. “During the past 13 months, we organised three big political conferences-at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar last year,at Khatkar Kalan on March 27, 2011, to announce the formation of the PPP, and one at Moga to mobilise the cadres.
“Besides, I have addressed more than 1,000 political meetings in rural and urban areas during this period,” he says, adding that the party has a membership of 18 lakh and has 4,500 office-bearers.

Untiring Crusader

• Manpreet was expelled from the Shiromani Akali Dal in October 2010
• He has travelled about 1,90,000 km since then
• In the past 13 months, he has held three big conferences — at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar last year, at Khatkar Kalan on March 27, 2011, and at Moga to mobilise cadres
• Manpreet has addressed more than 1,000 political meetings in rural as well as urban areas
• He says the party has a membership of 18 lakh and has 4,500 office-bearers
• The PPP has fielded candidates in 91 constituencies

frontline leaders

Bhagwant Mann, Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, Kuldeep Singh Dhose, Harnek Singh Gharuan and Bir Devinder Singh Manpreet’s main adviser is Dr SS Johl