From walking the streets of Nangal in the early morning to interacting with sanitation workers and locals, Punjab Education and Local Governments Minister Harjot Singh Bains appears to have taken his political outreach in his home constituency, Anandpur Sahib, to the grassroots level ahead of Assembly elections.For the fifth consecutive day, Bains has been personally touring different wards of Nangal municipal council under his mission clean campaign. He is spending morning hours inspecting sanitation and interacting directly with sanitation workers and residents. His morning rounds have increasingly become an opportunity for the minister to meet voters, listen to their grievances and assure them that their problems would be addressed.Bains has been seen stopping on the streets to speak to residents about issues concerning water supply, sewerage, streetlights, roads and sanitation. He has also been interacting with young people and seeking feedback from local residents. In a gesture aimed at strengthening his personal connect, the minister is seen touching the feet of elderly residents during his visits.Bains assured residents that their problems would be addressed within the next three months, while directing officials to act immediately on issues that can be resolved at the local level. For problems requiring larger interventions, he has ordered officials to prepare time-bound plans.The conspicuous street level presence of the minister has, however, triggered a political counterattack from the Opposition.Opposition leaders, including district president of congress, Ashwani Sharma have termed Bain’s latest initiative an ‘exercise that has come too little and too late.’ They have alleged that the government has spent most of its four and a half year tenure without sanctioning any significant new project for the area. Sudden focus on civic amenities, with the government’s term nearing its end, is an attempt to present a more favourable picture before voters, he alleged.Responding to the allegations, Bains said that ultimately the people would be the best judges of his performance. The minister has maintained that his focus is on addressing peoples day to day problems rather than merely running a short term campaign.Under mission clean, Bains has directed sanitation workers and municipal officials to intensify cleanliness operations across Nangal. He has also appealed to residents to cooperate with sanitation workers and hand over household waste during door to door collection instead of dumping it on roads and public places.At the same time, Bains has adopted a tougher stance on encroachments. He has directed officials to issue 48-hour notices to those occupying public roads, public spaces or government land by keeping private belongings, commercial material or parking vehicles there. Failure to remove the material within the stipulated time period would result in its removal and imposition of fines under the rules.Bains has sought to turn the campaign into a broader civic movement, arguing that cleanliness cannot be the responsibility of the municipal council and sanitation workers alone.With the minister now making a daily appearance on Nangal’s streets, the campaign has become as much about political visibility as municipal cleanliness. Whether these morning rounds succeed in converting street level interaction into electoral support will ultimately be decided by the voters of Anandpur Sahib constituency.