File photo of Captain Amarinder Singh
The Congress has fielded former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, a reluctant candidate, against the BJP's Arun Jaitley in Amritsar.
Captain Singh, a former Patiala royal, is currently a legislator in the Punjab assembly.
The 72-year-old had on Thursday displayed his unwillingness to contest, with a statement asserting that a local candidate would be more suited to contest from Amritsar.
Captain Singh's plea included a number of reasons why he could not focus on Amritsar, one of them being that he wanted to help his wife Preneet Kaur, a union minister, who is contesting from Patiala.
"My presence is required across the state and contesting from Amritsar would confine me to a single constituency. If elected, I would not be able to do justice to the people there as compared to a local candidate," he said.
People of Amritsar would not like to replace one absentee MP with another, Captain Singh added, referring to the sitting BJP MP Navjot Sidhu, a cricket commentator and TV personality.
Sources say Captain Singh felt he was pushed into a difficult contest by Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa, who is seen as his rival in the party. Amritsar has voted BJP since 2004.
Mr Bajwa reportedly told party leaders that Amarinder Singh was the strongest candidate to take on Mr Jaitley, who is contesting his first ever election.
The 'Raja of Patiala', sources said, fell in line after a snub from Sonia Gandhi. The Congress president reportedly refused to meet him on Thursday.
By fielding Amarinder Singh, the Congress hopes to win the support of Amritsar's Sikh voters, who are seen to be disenchanted with the current MP and divided over support to the BJP-Akali Dal combine.
Last Saturday, BJP announced Mr Jaitley would contest from Amritsar instead of its two-time MP Navjot Sidhu, who reportedly paid for his running feud with the BJP's ally, Akali Dal.