Chandigarh: The Congress and Aam Admi Party (AAP) are leaving nothing to chance as far as the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab are concerned. Though the elections are 15 months away, both parties have already worked out elaborate trips to the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the hope that expatriates will endorse them when the time comes.
In fact, Punjab is one of the very few states where politicians campaign on foreign soil in the hope that expatriates influence elections back home. While some AAP leaders are already abroad, trying to keep their NRI flock together, Congress' Amritsar MP Captain Amarinder Singh will soon be leaving for New Zealand and Australia.
This trend had started after Punjabi NRIs not only financed AAP's 2014 Lok Sabha campaign in the state, but also call up home to virtually force their kin to vote for Arvind Kejriwal's outfit. This resulted in four AAP MPs in Punjab even as the party drew a blank in the rest of the country.
At present, NRIs are extremely upset with the instances of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in the state and have vented their anger both against the state government and the police on social media. "NRIs were the ones who told people to vote for AAP. Now, it is changing. Now, they are saying go for Congress," Amarinder said. In spring, he will go to America, Canada and even Germany and Italy where there is a fairly large Punjabi NRI population today. The former chief minister adds that instead of sending other leaders, he will himself meet NRIs and get them into the Congress fold.
AAP in-charge of Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh, along with the party's Anandpur Sahib candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections Himmat Singh Shergill, is touring the US and Canada at present. They are holding 'Awareness Conventions' where the party's stand on different issues is being highlighted.
