In Bathinda, 5 move out of SAD, 2 move in from Congress

  • | Sunday | 13th January, 2019

BATHINDA: Four councillors of the Bathinda municipal corporation (MC) and the husband of a former councillor resigned from the Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday. Though she won the parliamentary poll from Bathinda by 19,395 votes in 2014, her estranged brother-in-law Manpreet Badal, who fought on a Congress ticket, led by nearly 30,000 votes from Bathinda Urban assembly segment of the Bathinda parliamentary seat.Recently, another Akali Dal-supported councillor, Darshan Singh, and independent councillor Jasbir Singh Jassa sided with the Congress. Though the four concillors did not announce anything, it was being said that they were in talks with the Congress.The move came amid a former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) secretary and a councillor belonging to the Congress joining the SAD. They added that the party was now promoting paid workers at the cost of annoying elected representatives. They said they were being “insulted” in the party and this had made them resign from it.

BATHINDA: Four councillors of the Bathinda municipal corporation (MC) and the husband of a former councillor resigned from the Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday. Though the four concillors did not announce anything, it was being said that they were in talks with the Congress.The move came amid a former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) secretary and a councillor belonging to the Congress joining the SAD. The local leaders who have resigned from the party include councillors Rajinder Singh Sidhu, Harmandar Singh, Nirmal Sandhu and Baljit Singh, and Rajinder Singh Mann, who is the husband of former councillor Parminder Kaur.They accused the SAD leadership of adopting a culture of corporates and turning a deaf ear to elected leaders.Meanwhile, PPCC former secretary Iqbal Singh Dhillon and Congress councillor Sherry Goyal joined the SAD in the presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union food-processing industry minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Dhillon was considered close to former Congress MLA Harminder Singh Jassi, a relative of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim.His exit is said to be a result of him developing differences with finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.The change in party loyalties is being seen as politically significant just ahead of the elections Lok Sabha elections, which Harsimrat is expected to contest from Bathinda. Though she won the parliamentary poll from Bathinda by 19,395 votes in 2014, her estranged brother-in-law Manpreet Badal, who fought on a Congress ticket, led by nearly 30,000 votes from Bathinda Urban assembly segment of the Bathinda parliamentary seat.Recently, another Akali Dal-supported councillor, Darshan Singh, and independent councillor Jasbir Singh Jassa sided with the Congress. Harmandar and Sidhu said Akali Dal failed to solve cases of sacrilege and take action against Dera Sacha Sauda followers who were allegedly behind the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib during its tenure. They added that the party was now promoting paid workers at the cost of annoying elected representatives. They said they were being “insulted” in the party and this had made them resign from it. They refuted plans of joining any other party at the moment.Sukhbir and Harsimrat said the councillors enjoyed power for 10 years when the SAD-BJP government was in power, but had bailed on it now that the alliance was out of power.

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