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A tough fight on the cards in Rajpura

Sitting Congress MLA Raj Khurana is contesting on BJP ticket

RAJPURA: A known detractor of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is unlikely to have a smooth sailing in this constituency after he quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Sitting MLA Raj Khurana, who had fought the last election on Congress ticket, caused a flutter in the party by leaving the organisation for the saffron camp and targeting the Chief Minister.

Hardayal Singh Kamboj, who deserted the Bahujan Samaj Party to join the Congress in 1997, is the ruling party's candidate and is striving hard to upset Mr. Khurana in this Assembly constituency with 1.54-lakh voters.

`Back-stabber'

While Mr. Khurana is attacking "dictatorial attitude" of the Chief Minister and claims that his fight is against corruption, the Congress is projecting Mr. Khurana as a "back-stabber".

Mr. Kamboj, believed to be a close associate of Congress MP Preneet Kaur, wife of Capt. Amarinder Singh, is talking about an "unprecedented development" in Punjab under the Congress rule.

The BJP candidate is banking heavily on 50,000 votes of Bhawalpur Samaj.

On his plans for the constituency, Mr. Kamboj says Rajpura being "gateway to Punjab" needs much more development.

Admitting that his fight is only against the BJP candidate, Mr. Kamboj says a sizeable number of Mr. Khurana's supporters are "unhappy with his working style". - PTI

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A tough fight on the cards in Rajpura

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