In a major blow to the ruling Congress party in Kapurthala district, former Congress candidate from Bholath constituency Ranjit Singh Rana and Bholath Youth Congress president Harsimran Singh Ghuman joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday along with hundreds of their associates and supporters. The development came a day after the ruling Congress party gets a new state unit president, Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Notably, Rana had contested 2017 state assembly polls from Bholath Assembly constituency from the Congress party. He has also been the Punjab president of the Truck Union, Sarpanch of a village and chairman and director of the Cooperative Bank.
Rana said that like the majority of the people of Punjab, they were impressed by the work done by Arvind Kejriwal's Government in Delhi and were striving to form a corruption-free and pro-people government in Punjab like Delhi.
Criticising Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Rana said that by winning on AAP’s support, Khaira had betrayed the people's decision and the people of Punjab would no longer trust him. “History has shown that wherever Khaira has gone, he has created a mess (khilara),” he added.
The leaders were formally-inducted and welcomed by AAP’s Punjab affairs co-incharge Raghav Chadha, Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema, and state general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat at the party headquarters.
Taking a dig at the ongoing infighting within Punjab Congress, the AAP national spokesperson and Punjab affairs co-incharge Raghav Chadha said that the ongoing internal feud in the ruling Congress has made one thing clear that it was not concerned about the issues related to Punjab and the people, but only for chair (power).
“Despite being in power for four-and-a-half years, these Congressmen never fought for Punjab and the issues faced by the people of Punjab, but only to grab or save the chair. As the situation prevails, it seems unlikely that Navjot Singh Sidhu becoming the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress will quell the infighting within the Congress,” said Chadha.
He said that although it was Congress’ internal issue, “being the ruling party, the Congress’ strife has caused a lot of damage to the State. Punjab was not on their agenda due to the internal fighting. After ruining four and a half years, now we hope that the ruling Congress will utilise the remaining few months for the betterment of the people and the state, he added.
Also extending “best wishes” to Sidhu, Chadha said: “Let us see how Sidhu, sitting on the chair of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, deals with all the burning issues of Punjab, corruption and mafia.”