The Congress struck back with ads featuring caricatures of Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. One ad, issued under the name of Akali Dal, Delhi, depicts the elder Badal as a corrupt politician. Another one holds him and his son responsible for a pesticide scandal.

Perhaps, the most interesting series of ads is on the contentious water-sharing issue. The Congress came out with an ad showing Badal and former Haryana chief minister Om Parkash Chautala hand-in-glove in a conspiracy to deprive Punjab of water. Badal is shown as accepting funds from Haryana under the agreement.

The SAD-BJP combine hit back with an ad featuring an old newspaper clipping welcoming former PM Indira Gandhi for the inauguration of the SYL project. It also carries a picture of Amarinder Singh in his younger days.

However, the latest contribution to the ad-wars comes not from the parties themselves, but news channels. The Congress has lapped up a recent poll survey conducted by CNN-IBN-HT which gives an advantage of 5 per centage points to the Congress over the SAD-BJP combine. The party followed it up with several ads claiming the survey to be a sign of its imminent victory.

The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, which had conducted the survey, then clarified that it was done in the second week of January and said: “The experience of Indian election shows that voting preferences can and often do change in the period after the declaration of candidates and the election campaign”.

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