AMRITSAR – The Akali Dal declared Ravinder Singh Brahmpura as party candidate for the Khadoor Sahib bypoll, scheduled for February 13.
Party president and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal chaired a party meeting at Tarn Taran to prepare party’s strategy for the bypoll. Earlier in the day, the Deputy CM paid obeisance at the Golden Temple.
Dismissing the presence of AAP, Sukhbir said: “The Congress is our main rival while AAP was never a threat.”
On reports of Congress leader and former Khadoor Sahib MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki’s reluctance to fight the bypoll, the Deputy CM said: “The Congress appears to be running away out of fear of losing the election. Sikki is not confident of retaining the seat he had earlier won. Under the present circumstances, we will clinch the seat with convincing margin.”
Ravinder is the son of Khadoor Sahib SAD MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura who had lost the 2012 Assembly elections to Sikki.
AAP has already declared not to contest the bypoll as it is targeting the 2017 elections.
Former AAP leaders Bhai Baldeep Singh and Sumail Singh Sidhu have declared to contest the bypoll as independent candidates. Sources said Bhai Baldeep Singh had the support of AAP’s dissident MPs Dharamvira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa.
Jalandhar: Claiming that he was unable to understand the inclination of Punjabis towards the Aam Aadmi Party, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal on Wednesday urged them to undergo a reality check for themselves by visiting Delhi once. Sukhbir on Wednesday flagged off a train to Varanasi from the local railway station under the pilgrimage scheme. He said: “The AAP MLAs are having a free run. They have jacked up their monthly salaries to Rs2 lakh a month. Their CM’s self-popularity budget stands at Rs532 crore against our advertisement expenditure stands of just Rs20 crore.”
