The prestige of big B’s is at stake in what appears to be a direct contest between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), although the Bahujan Samaj Party and some other outfits are also in the fray.

While Punjab Chief Minister and SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal’s prestige is involved in the candidature of his adviser Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, who is the SAD nominee, the Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu carries along the image of his grandfather, slain Punjab CM Beant Singh.

Bittu, the first elected president of Punjab Youth Congress, is believed to be the choice of All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who accepted the recommendation of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. His electoral prospects will involve the prestige of Rahul and Amarinder. Another similarity between Bittu and Cheema is that they both are outsiders. While Bittu belongs to Ludhiana district, Cheema is from Gurdaspur.

Bittu is in high spirits over his recent maiden victory in Youth Congress elections, which were personally supervised by Rahul, while Cheema claims to be “more experienced” being an aide of the Badals for the past over two decades.

Enjoying the rank of Cabinet minister, Cheema is serving SAD as its secretary and spokesman, being the “most trusted” soldier of the Badals.

Except the names of their respective parties, families and political masters, both Bittu and Cheema have nothing to bank on. While Cheema is counting on the performance of the SAD rule in Punjab, Bittu is playing the anti-incumbency card with the support of the youth.

Factionalism is troubling both the nominees, who are using their mentors to get support from disgruntled cadres. Another factor, due to which the electoral battle of this seat assumes significance, is its sharing boundaries with the capital Chandigarh and having newly-carved-out Mohali Assembly constituency as its part.

As per the previous record of the total nine Vidhan Sabha segments spread across four districts included in Anandpur Sahib parliamentary seat, the Congress and SAD had been swapping power during the successive Assembly elections. Ropar, scrapping of which paved way for Anandpur Sahib, was also represented by the Congress and the SAD in the Lok Sabha. While five Assembly seats in Anandpur Sahib are presently represented by the SAD, Congress is ruling three and one has an Independent MLA, who supports the SAD.

The SAD has already suffered a blow in this constituency with its sitting MP Sukhdev Singh Libra joining the Congress and seeking re-election from the newly-carved-out Fatehgarh Sahib constituency as the Congress candidate. While Cheema has already completed a round of the constituency, Bittu kick-started the campaign after returning from Congress headquarters on Monday.