Sitting ludhiana MP and Union Minister Manish Tewari would face a tough challenge in the impending general elections. Senior advocate HS Phoolka, known for his legal work for 1984 Sikh riot victims, will be Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate from the constituency in Punjab.
His name was announced on Sunday as AAP’s candidate from ludhiana parliamentary constituency in the party’s first list of 20 candidates. The names of the candidates were reportedly finalised during the meeting of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC) on Sunday afternoon at party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s residence.
The 57-year-old Phoolka, despite working closely with Shiromani Akali Dal-controlled Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), chose to join the new-sprung AAP instead of the Akali Dal.
Phoolka, who joined AAP earlier this year, may sound trouble for Tewari as he is expected to draw votes from the considerable chunk of urban Sikh population that migrated from other states after the 1984 riots.
He had been contesting cases of victims of November 1984 Sikh massacre in Delhi for last many years.
It has been learnt that Phoolka had already take up the issue of contesting elections from ludhiana with senior leaders of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. Only recently, Phoolka had indicated that he could be the party’s candidate from ludhiana, and in fact, expressed desire to contest elections against the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting. The Supreme Court lawyer claimed that he share a close relationship with the city.
Hailing from Bhadaur near Barnala, Phoolka studied in ludhiana and did his graduation in agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in 1976. later, he married a PAU lecturer in 1983.
Phoolka had maintained that after moving to Delhi, he had been frequently visiting ludhiana to campaign against drug abuse and crimes against children. He had also been pleading cases of many 1984 riot victims of Delhi settled in ludhiana for their better rehabilitation.