Once a rebel, Gurpartap Singh Tikka is Shiromani Akali Dal’s candidate from Amritsar South.
Exactly a year after he was appointed acting president of the party’s Amritsar (Urban) unit, Tikka’s candidature was announced by SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday.
Currently the officiating district president of SAD’s Amritsar unit after incumbent Upkar Singh Sandhu resigned lodging protest against sacrilege incidents in January 2016, Tikka turned rebel when the party had denied him ticket during 2012 State Assembly polls, and unsuccessfully contested as an Independent.
At the time, SAD suspended him from the party, and later reinstated him during 2014 lok Sabha polls.
Tikka, a close confidant Sukhbir Badal and Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, will once again be facing challenge from sitting MlA Inderbir Singh Bolaria. But the only difference this time would be that Tikka is SAD’s official candidate, and Bolaira is Congress; nominee.
The announcement came the same day the Congress party cleared Bolaria’s name for the seat.
Notably, Tikka’s rise in the party was engineered to counter Bolaria, who had openly revolted against his own party and was later unceremoniously removed as the head of the Youth Akali Dal’s Majha zone.
Bolaria, in league with the natives of his constituency, had protested against the setting up of the proposed solid waste management plant at Bhagtanwala dump site.
Tikka claims to belong to the Taksali Akali family with old ties with the Badal family.
Making the contest triangular, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded a Jat Sikh, Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar from the seat.