After a spot of bother in Asansol, BJP may have hit ‘home’ run with long-time Bengal face S S Ahluwalia

The BJP has turned to its long-time West Bengal staple — S S Ahluwalia — from before the party emerged as a serious contender on the state scene, for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat. Its first choice, Bhojpuri singer-star Pawan Singh, pulled out following controversy over his career choices, and the party couldn’t have gone for a safer option than Ahluwalia, a native from Asansol.

Before the BJP settled on him, the name of former Asansol mayor and ex-Trinamool Congress leader Jitendra Kumar Tiwari also did the rounds, but the latter was probably too much in the heat following TMC allegations that he had met an NIA officer to “influence” cases against its leaders.

No sooner had his name been announced than the Sikh leader, who was born and raised in Asansol, underlined what made him special. “Ami Bangla-e bhabi, chinta kori, aar likhi English-e, boli Hindi-te (I think in Bengali, write in English, speak in Hindi),” Ahluwalia said.

Ahluwalia had started his political career with the Congress, getting elected to the Rajya Sabha twice from Bihar, during which time he handled many portfolios in the Narasimha Rao government. But towards the end of the 1990s, as the BJP’s star rose at the Centre, Ahluwalia joined the party. After Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, and the BJP came to power in the state, he was sent by the BJP twice again to the Upper House from Jharkhand.

For the first time in May 2014, Ahluwalia fought an election to the Lok Sabha, getting elected from the Darjeeling seat in West Bengal, defeating football star Bhaichung Bhutia fielded by the TMC. Ahluwalia won due to the support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, receiving 42.80% of the votes.

In 2019, Ahluwalia again won, this time from Durgapur-Burdwan, though by a slim