BATHINDA: Bathinda may just be witness to a contest between SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal , Congress’s Manpreet Singh Badal and newly formed Punjabi Ekta Party (PEP) president Sukhpal Singh Khaira when the Lok Sabha elections take place later this year.Union food-processing industry minister Harsimrat, who won the seat in the 2009 and 2014 elections, has already staked claim to the SAD ticket from the constituency. While Punjab finance minister Manpreet — who lost to Harsimrat by 19,395 votes in 2014 — had on January 3 hinted at wanting to contest for the Congress from the parliamentary segment, Khaira told media on Sunday that there was a “strong possibility” of him fighting for PEP from Bathinda.Khaira’s statement came at the opening of his party’s first office, which he has set up on Goniana Road in Bathinda. Talking to media after the office’s opening, Khaira said, “Workers and leaders of the party are asking me to contest from Bathinda. I will consult with all stakeholders in the party and our alliance partners before taking any decision.”The SAD has already started projecting Harsimrat as its candidate from the seat and there has been no announcement of the party changing her constituency. When she was casting her vote for panchayat elections in the state on December 30, Harsimrat had said she would contest from Bathinda only, saying that she had bagged several projects for her constituency, like the setting up of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a central university, and several skill centres.On Saturday, four councillors left the SAD by claiming that the party had started to adopt a “corporate culture”. Though they did not join a party, it was being said that they were in talks with the Congress.On the same day, a former Punjab Congress secretary and councillor joined the SAD in the presence of Harsimrat and her husband, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.Manpreet, who was the finance minister in the SAD government in Punjab in 2011, had left the party after falling out with Sukhbir, the then deputy chief minister, and uncle Parkash Singh Badal , then then chief minister, over the allocation of funds. At the time, he had formed the People’s Party of Punjab and then merged it with the Congress in January 2016.Khaira, after resigning from Aam Aadmi Party, launched PEP on January 8. He has entered into an alliance with AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi-led Punjab Democratic Alliance and Lok Insaf Party of MLA brothers Balwindrer Singh Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains. Khaira is trying to forge an alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali), formed recently by MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, former MP Rattan Singh Ajnala and former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan , who resigned from the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).AAP MLA may join party: KhairaPunjabi Ekta Party president Sukhpal Singh Khaira claimed on Sunday that another AAP MLA would be joining his outfit soon. Though he did not name the MLA, he hinted at Jaitu MLA Baldev Singh making the move. Khaira said the party’s structure would soon be announced and its offices opened across Punjab. He said the party’s Bathinda office will be headed by party district president Deepak Bansal, who unsuccessfully fought the 2017 assembly elections from Bathinda Urban assembly segment on an AAP ticket.

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