Punjab: Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s residence, located in a narrow lane of his native village Dharowali, has been a hub of activity since the AICC announced his candidature.
Commandos equipped with state-of-the-art automatic weapons are seen everywhere. No one is searched lest he gets angry, but the truth is that no one can escape the sharp eyes of these security personnel.
His wife Jatinder Kaur is much busier than her MLA husband. She is quick to emphasize that she is not a politician. Yet, she acts, thinks, talks and lives the same. This is reason enough why Sukhjinder Randhawa has given him full control of his assembly seat of Dera Baba Nanak.
She signals to the crowd standing outside that “Sahib is ready and can come out to meet him any time.” Randhawa comes out, listens to their complaints and sits in his car. He is going to meet Dr. Kamaljit Singh, whose son Prabhdeep Singh has achieved great success in the construction business in Australia. The doctor’s luxurious house of one acre is situated on the outskirts of the village. “This is one of the success stories of Dharowali,” says Randhawa.
A few minutes later, he is on his way to Gurdaspur, 35 kilometers away. He is busy checking his phone in the car. Actually, he is investigating the stock market. Not because he has invested in shares or mutual funds, but because “Sensex tells whether the BJP government will get a third term or not.”
“Just look at how the volatility index of the stock exchange is rising. This means that the market is nervous. The industry can understand that Modi is no longer coming to power,” Randhawa quipped as his car passed the T-point, the starting point of the four-lane road that connects to the Kartarpur Corridor, 8 km away. Leads to.
“The construction of the corridor was mired in controversy when the mining mafia suddenly increased the prices of sand and gravel. Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh asked me to intervene. I called the contractor and asked him to resume work within two hours or be prepared to face an FIR. Things went well and the corridor was built on schedule,” he said.
A few minutes later, their car comes to a screeching halt again, this time at Kalanaur. He points to about 1,600 acres of panchayat land lying vacant. “In 2018, when I was the Cooperation Minister, I set up a sugarcane research institute on the lines of Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Pune, which is considered to be the best sugarcane research institute in Asia. Everything was going well until the AAP government came to power. The new government has stopped the work. This is a classic example of how petty politics hampers development projects,” he said.
They are concerned about how Pakistan is sending drones carrying payloads or heroin to border villages. “Earlier, heroin used to come in 5 kg packets. Now it is coming in packets weighing 10 to 15 kg. My children are being ruined. Batala’s once famous industrial units are facing closure as the central government is not giving them relaxations like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Heroin and unemployment are the two biggest problems of this constituency. This will be my priority area once I reach Parliament,” he says.
Before the day ends, Randhawa says, “My constituency is in dire need of a state-of-the-art medical college and hospital on the lines of AIIMS. We also need a sports university and a large fruit-cum-agri-based industrial unit in Pathankot.
