People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) on Thursday took a beating as its lone senior leader joined the Shiromani Akali Dal “again”.
Its senior vice-president and Central Committee member Darshan Singh Mandhir and Amardeep Singh Brar, who fought from Ropar by securing second highest votes of more than 25,000 rejoined the Akali Dal in the presence of SAD president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
Welcoming back Mandhir and Brar in their “mother party”, Sukhbir said that Mandhir is a “political institution in Gidderbaha” area and he himself owes his initial political upbringing to him. “Mandhir has always remained inseparable part of Akali Dal and now he has returned to his mother party, after being frustrated by Manpreet Badal who is extending an olive branch to the Congress party,” said Sukhbir.
He said that now Manpreet Badal’s stand fully exposed as his agenda of breaking SAD has been exposed to the people of Punjab. Welcoming both the leaders in the party fold, Sukhbir said that even Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal rang me up expressing happiness over return of two veterans in the SAD fold.
Mandhir and Brar, speaking on the occasion, said that they were pained by the decision of Manpreet Badal to join hands with Congress party. They said that they had strongly opposed this move and advocated that instead of joining hands with Congress, PPP should go back to mother party Shiromani Akali Dal accepting its mistake.
He said that they were surprised to see Congress dictating terms to PPP and Manpreet being at the mercy of small Congress leaders.