Punjab Congress has asked its Rajya Sabha member and former president Shamsher Singh Dullo to walk out after his son and wife joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In fact, AAP has declared Dullo’s son Bandeep Singh Dullo as its party candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib.

Describing Dullo as a blot on the Congress whose exit would benefit the party, Punjab Congress Campaign Committee chairman Lal Singh said that the MP had no place in the Congress after his wife and son joined AAP and he himself declaring openly that he would not campaign for the Congress.

Bandeep, who was the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee secretary, joined AAP in New Delhi on Sunday, replacing his mother and former MLA Harbans Kaur Dullo.

Earlier, the party had given ticket to Baljinder Singh Chudhan but replaced him with Harbans Kaur after she joined AAP on April 16. It is learnt that the decision to field Bandeep was taken after the party found his mother ineffective in the poll campaign.

Dullo has been quoted in the media as saying that he was neither aware of who the Congress candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib was, nor would be campaign for him.

Terming Dullo’s stand as “shameful and atrocious”, Lal Singh said that the MP was behaving abominably, considering all that the Congress had done for him. “He was a member of the Beant Singh cabinet in 1992 and in 1999, Capt Amarinder gave him the Lok Sabha ticket, on which he won. He was then made PPCC president, another fact he seemed to have conveniently forgotten,” said Lal Singh.

Even his wife was given Assembly election ticket in 2002 and then again in 2007 and 2012, which she lost. She was also made Parliamentary Secretary.

Lal Singh said that the party lost the 2007 election because of Dullo, who had been openly abusing a particular community, resulting in his own defeat as well as the defeat of the party. Despite this, the party nominated him Rajya Sabha member.

 Despite all this, the man had the audacity to ask for a ticket now for his son, and on being denied the same, he had opted to rebel openly against the party instead of working for it like a loyal soldier, Lal Singh pointed out.

The Congress Campaign Committee chairman expressed his anger at the behaviour of Dullo, saying that Dullo had lost all locus standii to remain in the party, which he was treating badly. “On the one hand, the party is holding senior leaders including ministers and MLAs accountable for the victory or defeat of its candidates in these Lok Sabha elections, and on the other, there are people like Dullo who are actually trying to sabotage the efforts and interests of Congress candidates,” he added.

Dullo should step down immediately instead of working actively against the party, which was responsible for nurturing his political career, Lal Singh demanded.