Though childish to the ears, nicknames are certainly no deterrent to serious power play. Dimpa or the Congress candidate from Beas, Jasbir Singh Dimpa, for instance, is as powerful as you can get in the border belt. It came as no surprise to anyone when polling in his constituency was put off after his younger brother Rajan Gill was videographed firing from an AK-47 during a clash with the Akalis.

Power or no power, Pawan Kumar Tinnu, a BSP leaders who broke away to form Bahujan Kranti Party (BKP) last December and also uses a nickname, is all praise for the use of pet names after a phase that saw politicians reasserting their caste. “It’s a drop in the ocean but I am glad that leaders are taking a conscious decision not to identify themselves with their caste.”

Many like Gurcharan Singh Channi, president of SAD(B)’s Jalandhar unit, says he and his brother Amardeep Singh Amri, BJP Yuva Morcha president, chose to shun their caste, for the Sikh religion is against casteism. “We’re all Singhs but since there would be many Charanjits I have tried to distinguish myself by appending ‘Channi’ to my name.”

It’s another matter that ‘Channi’ is well on the way to become a surname. Charanjit’s young school-going son is called Kaka Channi.