Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll: As canvassing nears end, SAD & AAP steal glances at Fountain Chowk

Indian Express

5 hours ago

The penultimate day of campaign for the Ludhiana West Assembly by-election, scheduled on June 19, on Monday threw traffic out of gear, creating chaos, confusion and tense moments.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal launched his roadshow at Jawahar Nagar Camp and moved towards the road opposite ESI Hospital near the bus stand.
Despite intermittent rains, the show of strength continued uninterrupted, with Sukhbir standing in an open SUV, greeting people alongside the route. When the SAD roadshow approached Fountain Chowk, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rally was in progress there.
To avoid a direct clash, the SAD procession was diverted via Sutlej Club road before rejoining the original route at Fountain Chowk and then towards Rani Jhansi road.
At one point, the SAD roadshow passed close to the AAP rally venue, prompting supporters from both sides to raise slogans in support of their respective parties.
The AAP rally had party candidate Sanjeev Arora, senior Dalit leader Vijay Danav, a former SAD member, star campaigner Rakhi Birla among others present at the venue.
AAP leaders also organised a bike rally starting from fountain chowk amid rain. Speaking on the occasion Rakhi Birla said,' overwhelming public response clearly indicates that Arora will win the seat by a huge margin. She said the voters are not just electing an MLA, but a future Cabinet Minister, as both AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann have already endorsed Arora's elevation post-election. She praised Arora as a hardworking, development-focused leader who is personally reaching out to every voter in the constituency.'
Addressing party supporters, Sukhbir said, 'The massive response to our roadshow proves the people of Ludhiana are fed up with Congress's gundagardi candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu and the complete failure of the AAP government in resolving their issues. Development is at an all-time low, with no civic works being undertaken in the city in the past eight years. The SAD is known for carrying out speedy development, be it flyovers or the Southern bypass, all major infrastructure development came up during the SAD tenure.'
However, the situation grew complicated as the SAD roadshow proceeded further through Rani Jhansi road and towards Ghumar Mandi, with its final destination being Aarti Chowk.
Due to the rain and route diversions, the roadshow was delayed, leading to another heated face-off between SAD and BJP supporters near Ghumar Mandi around 7 pm, with both sides raising their party slogans.
To prevent escalation, BJP's former state president Avinash Rai Khanna instructed party workers to halt briefly near Shenshah Palace, allowing the SAD procession, which concluded at Aarti Chowk by around 7.15 pm, paving the way for the BJP roadshow.
The BJP roadshow had their state president Sunil Jakhar, Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur, union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu, BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta among others which started from Shahenshah palace on Ferozepur road and travelled across Ghumar Mandi.
Anurag Thakur said that AAP people first looted the people of Delhi. 'When the people of Delhi rejected them, now they have turned towards Punjab. Sunil Jakhar said that seeing the huge crowd in the road show, it seems that the people of Ludhiana have accepted Jiwan Gupta even before the voting. BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta said,' in three and a half years, the AAP government did not do any concrete work for the development of the constituency. Now in one and a half years, with which Aladdin's lamp will the area be developed?'