The kakaji brigade

Come polls and Punjab sees a series of son-rises. This time over a dozen kakajis are throwing their lot into the electoral arena. In a state known for its feudal mindset and poor sex ratio, the number of daughters in the fray adds up to a mere two.

Come polls and Punjab sees a series of son-rises. This time over a dozen kakajis are throwing their lot into the electoral arena. In a state known for its feudal mindset and poor sex ratio, the number of daughters in the fray adds up to a mere two.

• With Sukhbir Badal, son of SAD (B) supremo and former CM Parkash Singh Badal, spearheading the Akali campaign against Congress, it’s only natural that kakas have got a handsome chunk of tickets.

• Gaganjit Singh Barnala, the sitting MLA from Dhuri, is son of Tamil Nadu Governor S.S. Barnala. The 44-year-old, known as the best-dressed man in the assembly — he reportedly takes an hour to tie his turban — shot to national disrepute last year when his maid accused him of rape. Barnala junior, who makes his living out of real-estate and business interests abroad, however, is banking on what he calls a “sympathy wave”.

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• Amarpal S. Bonny, 30, son of Tarn Taran MP Rattan S. Ajnala, is also staving off charges of hooliganism to strike it rich in his ancestral seat of Ajnala. He lost the bypolls last year, but this time, is hoping to woo voters with an image makeover.

• Parminder S. Dhindsa, the SAD legislator from Sunam, and son of former Union minister S.S. Dhindsa, is taking forward his father’s political legacy in the Sangrur belt. An MBA from Punjabi University, Dhindsa junior is known for nursing his constituency and keeping his opinions to himself.

• The February 13 polls, in fact, will see the debut of five sons — three of them the wrong side of 40. Emman Singh Mann, the youngest, is the son of SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, who’s been really legging it around his constituency of Sirhind. The 30-something math and economics graduate left his PhD midway to pursue politics. His father may be known for his “extreme” views but Emman is said to tread the middle path.

• Jasjit Singh, son of Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, former Akali finance minister, is also making his maiden go at polls from Kharar. Jasjit worked as creative director with J. Walter Thompson for 10 years before taking to politics in 2002. He is hoping to translate his managerial skills into electoral success.

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• Another first-timer son, Rakesh Sharma, son of Hans Raj Sharma, a former governor and Congress minister, is a liquor baron of Chandigarh. He is best known for playing a good game of golf.

• Aman Arora, son of another former Congress minister, is a businessman hoping to encash his father’s charitable works at Samana.

• Ditto for Rajnish Kumar, whose father, Congress speaker Kewal Kishan, won the Mukerian seat seven times. An excise and taxation officer, the 48-year quit in his job to be a full-time politician. A bomb attack by militants in 1983 that left him badly injured.

As they say, the son never sets in Punjab.

— Manraj Grewal