The ruling Congress party in Punjab suffered a setback on Monday when its senior leader and Nabha’s former MLA Ramesh Singla joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
During the campaigning for Delhi assembly elections, Singla formally joined AAP in the presence of Punjab state party president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann and the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema, besides senior leaders and MLAs.
Welcoming Singla into the party fold, Mann said that the former MLA played his political innings in various capacities spanning over decades and did not succumb to any political pulls and pressures of the Congress brass when it came to probity and propriety.
Mann, in his tongue-in-cheek style, said that keeping oneself above board in a corruption-ridden Congress dispensation was indeed a milestone by itself.
“Ramesh Singla always put the interests of the people and the State first…He fought a grim battle during the dark days of terrorism in the State and the people of Punjab, especially from Nabha-Patiala area, remember his insignificant role in dousing the seething flames of terrorism…By his joining, the AAP held greater significance as it would prove to be a great moral strength for the party cadres and dedicated workers of the party at large,” said Mann.
Singla said that while Capt Amarinder Singh Government had disappointed every section of the society in Punjab by reneging on the promises it made to the people, on the other hand, the Arvind Kejriwal Government in Delhi had won the people’s hearts by pushing an unprecedented growth through its honesty and hard work, which was why people of the national capital were singing paeans in favor of the Kejriwal government.“I decided to join AAP on the basis of the Kejriwal government’s performance in Delhi and Bhagwant Mann's performance in the Parliament broaching issues and concerns of the people of the State,” he said.