Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has yet to announce its Punjab candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, four-time Patiala MP and former Union minister Preneet Kaur on Sunday kick-started meetings with party leaders and workers in Dera Bassi and Zirakpur.

Mohali district falls under both Anandpur Sahib and Patiala parliamentary constituencies. The voters from Mohali and Kharar will vote for the next Anandpur Sahib MP, while those from Dera Bassi, including Zirakpur, will choose the next MP from Patiala.

Kaur, wife of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, is the front runner for the BJP ticket from Patiala. Notably, despite winning the Patiala constituency four times, Kaur could never secure the highest vote share in Dera Bassi constituency.

This was Kaur’s first visit to the constituency after she formally joined the BJP at its headquarters in New Delhi on March 14.

Starting off with addressing a gathering of scores of party workers and leaders at a resort in Dera Bassi, she further visited Peer Baba Market in Baltana, Zirakpur, to meet party workers, including Neha Sharma, the councillor from Ward Number 5, Baltana, who dumped the Congress to join the saffron party last week.

Market association president Manoj Garg was also present in the meeting.

At Dera Bassi, Kaur was joined by her close associate and former Punjab Infotech Corporation chairman SMS Sandhu, Mohali district president Sanjeev Vashisht and BJP state secretary Sanjeev Khanna, besides other local leaders. A few local Congress leaders also joined the BJP in Kaur’s presence.

Talking to HT, Kaur said, “The Dera Bassi constituency supported the BJP-SAD alliance in the past few elections. So, whoever gets the BJP ticket will win by a huge margin this time, banking on the party’s manifesto that has pan India relevance and also by working on local issues with the support of local leaders.”

Kaur added that she will be able to resolve local issues with better coordination with the Union government and can get the required funds for the constituency’s development.

“Recently, I held a meeting with the Chandigarh administrator as some land from the UT was required for construction of an under-bridge in Dhakoli. I am well aware of Dera Bassi’s local issues and I am also getting an overwhelming response from the BJP leaders here. So if given a chance by the party and the electorate, I will work on the constituency’s development,” Kaur added.

She further criticised the state government for non-cooperation with the central government. “Moreover, since there is no alliance between Congress and AAP in the state, Congress MP from here will not be of much help,” she said.

Commenting on the Opposition’s allegations in the past that she and Captain Amarinder Singh didn’t visit Zirakpur or Dera Bassi much, Kaur blamed the local Congress leadership in Dera Bassi of having poor coordination with her pertaining to local issues.

Ticket hopefuls in Anandpur Sahib

Meanwhile, though SAD has also not announced its candidate from Anandpur Sahib constituency yet, the main contender for the ticket, Prem Singh Chandumajra, has also started meeting people in the Kharar assembly constituency.

Other than Chandumajra, former state education minister and senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema and realtor Ranjit Singh Gill are the other ticket probables.

Meanwhile, Congress is likely to stick with its present MP from Anandpur Sahib, Manish Tewari. According to sources, Congress was also considering Tewari for Chandigarh, but the MP was not keen on contesting from there.

As per sources, AAP may consider its state chief spokesman and Lok Sabha in-charge, Anandpur Sahib, Malwinder Singh Kang. AAP leader Deepak Bali is also in the fray for the ticket.