Arvind Khanna’s politics has moved from the Akali Dal to the Congress, a long break from public life, and then a comeback through the BJP in 2022. Once a key power-broker in the Congress, he is now BJP Punjab vice-president and a core committee member, yet electoral wins have stayed elusive. Is Khanna’s long, shifting political past an advantage that makes him useful to the BJP or does the turncoat tag mean his future will stay limited to organisation, not mass leadership ?
अरविंद खन्ना की राजनीति अकाली दल से कांग्रेस, फिर लंबे ब्रेक और 2022 में बीजेपी में वापसी तक जाती है। कभी कांग्रेस में एक ताकतवर पावर-ब्रोकर रहे खन्ना आज भाजपा पंजाब के उपाध्यक्ष और कोर कमेटी सदस्य हैं, लेकिन चुनावी जीत अब तक दूर रही है। क्या खन्ना का बदलता राजनीतिक अतीत भाजपा के लिए एक ताकत है या फिर “टर्नकोट” की छवि उनकी भूमिका को संगठन तक ही सीमित रखेगी, जननेता बनने से रोकेगी ?
Elected three times from Dakha, Manpreet Singh Ayali has survived defeats, comebacks, and a near wipe-out of his party in 2022, when the Shiromani Akali Dal was reduced to just three MLAs. But his latest politics has raised sharper questions than losses ever did. From being a founding face of the rebel group seeking reform, to backing candidates whose campaign material was dominated by jailed MP Amritpal Singh, Ayali now walks a careful but disruptive line. If not a turncoat in the classic sense, has Ayali acted as something more damaging, a rebel who stays within shouting distance, weakening the parent party from inside rather than leaving it outright ? And as he speaks of Panthic unity after elections, is he positioning himself as a bridge- builder for the future or prolonging a dual strategy that keeps both camps unsettled while securing his own relevance ?
