Political clans, both big and small, dotting the landscape of northwest India, are all locked in fierce electoral battles for the 35 Lok Sabha seats spread over Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and Chandigarh.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his predecessor Capt Amarinder Singh, it seems, would not afford each other an easy moment. But right now, it is back to the people. Standing proxy for them in the Bathinda constituency are Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Raninder Singh. Harsimrat, addressed as Beebaji in Akali circles, is the wife of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, son and political heir of Badal Senior. Raninder Singh, Tikkuji to family loyalists, is Amarinder’s son. The hands of the former chief minister are full, for he has to ensure the return of his wife Preneet Kaur to the Lok Sabha from Patiala too.

Daljeet Singh Cheema, Akali candidate from Anandpur Sahib and a Badal aide, was quick to take potshots at Congress adversary Ravneet Singh Bittu the moment his candidature was announced. “Jaago Bittu school chalo,” Cheema taunted in an apparent reference to the fact that Bittu was a school dropout. But Bittu remains a serious contender, being the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was killed by terrorists.

A heart stroke four years ago may have left him weaker, but Bhajan Lal, the sole survivor of the Lal trinity, is neither daunted by his health nor political odds to try his luck from Hisar. Therefore, he is right there, in the arena as the candidate of his Haryana Janhit Congress, controlled by son Kuldeep Bishnoi. It is another matter that Kuldeep himself has opted out of the race in Bhiwani.

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