Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh on Tuesday administered oath of office to the Shiromani Akali Dal’s newly-elected member from Dakha Assembly constituency Manpreet Singh Ayali.
With Ayali, who was administered oath at a brief ceremony which was attended by several SAD party leaders, legislators and family members, the number of Akali MLAs has remained the same as the party has lost Jalalabad Assembly constituency and won Dakha during recently-concluded bypolls.
Earlier, Ayali was felicitated at the SAD office in the Vidhan Sabha by the party leaders and legislators including former Minister Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD’s legislative party leader Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Deputy Leader of the legislative wing NK Sharma, former Minister and MLA Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal and MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala.
Ayali credited his win in Dakha by-election to the record development work done by the SAD-BJP government under the leadership of Akali patriarch and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD President Sukhbir Badal.
“The people recognized the fact that they had been ditched by other political parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and made a clear cut decision to support the SAD-BJP combine against all odds,” he said.
Ayali said that the voters were subject to various kinds of pressure. “The State police even targeted and picked up 77 Akali workers. Even MGNREGA workers were threatened. But despite all this, we won in 95 per cent of the villages,” he added.
“The win in the completely rural and ‘panthic’ seat, which had a population of more than 40,000 NRIs, had also made it clear that the people had made up their mind to vote the SAD-BJP government into power in 2022,” he said.
Ayali, the second time MLA, also announced that he would work to create Suvidha Centres to address the grievances of the people. “We will also force the Congress candidate as well as the Congress Government to fulfil the promises made to the people,” he added.