Some youth leaders even tried to take up the matter with the junior Badal, who, however, shrugged it, saying that it was not the right time as he had come to pay homage to Bolaria on his bhog ceremony.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and a galaxy of leaders and prominent citizens recalled the persona and contributions of Bolaria. The CM said Bolaria never asked him any personal favors, rather sought developmental projects for his constituency.

Sukhbir, who was on his way to Delhi to make arrangements for the coming SAD-BJP rally, had a brief halt and spent sometime with the family members of Bolaria.

"It was being said that Sukhbir should contest from here," said a youth leader, adding that they would make a formal request to him in this regard. However, if Sukhbir chooses not to contest from here, then there would be a lot of infighting for the ticket, said another SAD (B) leader. Apart from Bolaria's son Inderbir Bolaria, a councillor in the MC, youth leader Gurpartap Singh Tikka, estranged leader Manjit Singh Calcutta and SGPC member Rajinder Singh Mehta would be in the race.

The All India Shiromani Akai Dal (AISAD), a rival Akali faction headed by Jaswant Singh Mann, has already declared its candidate Satnam Singh Kanda for the constituency. The Congress would also have more than three claimants, including former MLA Harjinder Singh Thekedar, Youth Congress leader Navdeep Singh Goldy and PPCC general secretary Inderjit Singh Basarke slugging it out for the ticket. It was learnt that by-election might be held along with parliamentary polls or before.

When Bikram Singh Majithia, cabinet minister and brother-in-law of Sukhbir, was asked, he said it was too early to say, and these decisions were taken at higher-level, moreover they were still to come out of the shock of Bolaria's death.