Peasants of PEPSU and Malwa have a major history of fighting the feudal and princely state in the former kingdom of Patiala. In the 80s and 90s, the Communists took a leading role in fighting the extremists.

Coming by bus to Sangrur to Chandigrah via Patiala, one finds red flags fluttering over the rooftops and red banners and CPI(M) election symbols and as soon as we enter Sangrur district, CPI(M) camps are to be seen in each and every village and small towns capped by large gatherings.There are about 11 lakhs votes in this rural constituency comprising eight Assembly segments.

Barnala is pitching for the campaign theme that he will definitely be a minister if not the Vice-President if the BJP comes to power. But he is at a loss to explain his misdeeds as Union agricultural minister and his indifference to his constituency as an MP.

Tara Singh of village Pindi in Dhoudhana said,``We had never heard of peasants of this region committing suicide. But this is happening now because of the various hardships being faced by our people. But Barnala has blamed them for the problems saying that they had been caught in a debt trap because of their mishandling of the situation.’’

Barnala is now going from village to village clarifying his statement.but his biggest problem is that he is facing dissidence from within his own party and also the Tohra factor is playing havoc with him. Nobody of any stature is also campaigning for him and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of the SAD has openly raised his voice against the former chief minister.

Coupled with this is the indifference of the urban voter to Barnala and his handling of the civic issues have left them indifferent.

The other contender is Simranjit Singh Mann, chief of Akali Dal (Amritsar), who enjoys Tohra’s support but the electorate is wary of his links with extremists. Bibi Manjit Kaur, a corporator of Bhodra town, said last time when Mann was sent by people of Sangrur to Parliament, he kept away from the House because House rules did not allow him to carry his kirpan. However, is Mann is hopeful of cutting into the bloc votes in Sirsa where the followers of Sucha Singh, numbering around 70,000, may vote for him.

The CPI(M) candidate is retired principal Ajit Singh who is a teacher-leader and presently district secretariat member.He is known for his simplicity and honesty in the area. Large number of teachers are working for him. it may be pointed out that Chand Singh Chopra of CPI(M) had polled around 1,60,000 votes in the 1996 elections through in 1998 elections the voting figure had decreased.