A credit fight between Badal and Maluka Bahus over AIIMS in Bathinda

Maluka bahu Parampal Kaur Sidhu, the BJP contender for the Lok Sabha seat, and Badal bahu Harsimrat Badal, the third-time MP from Bathinda, have started a credit battle over the AIIMS in Bathinda.

With Harsimrat’s picture claiming credit for the founding of AIIMS—which is offering southwest Punjab and the surrounding areas of Haryana and Rajasthan access to inexpensive healthcare—SAD has erected hoardings and banners.

Harsimrat is claiming credit at public gatherings, saying that she and Parkash Singh Badal brought the major project to this area and transformed the city.

“The constituency has seen a sea-change since she became an MP from Bathinda for the first time in 2009,” the politician claims. “My political rivals have nothing to show, whether it’s the network of roads, AIIMS, or Central University.”

“It’s not Harsimrat, it’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has given many big projects under the Central schemes,” Parampal Kaur Sidhu said in an interview with The Tribune. “Harsimrat has not brought AIIMS here,” she said. With 22 AIIMS constructed by the Union Government, AIIMS are currently present in almost all of the nation’s main states.

In addition, Parampal said that the Union ministry was responsible for hiring staff and that AIIMS-Bathinda was constructed using monies from the Center. It was unrelated to the government of Punjab. She said that in addition to AIIMS, the Central University of Punjab and an airport in Bathinda have been granted by the Union government.

Three elections from Bathinda were won by Harsimrat in 2009, 2014, and 2019. Although the party has not yet announced a candidate from Bathinda, Harsimrat is most likely to run from this area.

The Maluka family has been involved in politics in this area for the last thirty years, but Parampal is running for office for the first time. Parampal left her work to pursue a career in politics.

The Bathinda Lok Sabha seat is seeing a multi-corner battle for the first time, with the Congress supporting former MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and the AAP fielding Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.