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AAP looking to strengthen base in Ludhiana West constituency
After winning the assembly seat in Ludhiana West, which had for long been the bastion of now arrested former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is looking to further strengthen its base in the constituency by bring current and former councillors from other parties on board ahead of the municipal elections
After winning the assembly seat in Ludhiana West, which had for long been the bastion of now arrested former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is looking to further strengthen its base in the constituency by bring current and former councillors from other parties on board ahead of the municipal elections.
The exercise commenced on Friday as current Ludhiana West MLA, AAP’s Gurpreet Gogi, inducted current Congress councillors Amrit Varsha Rampal (ward 75) and Maninder Kaur Ghumman (ward 77); former Congress councillors Satwinder Jawaddi and Kapil Kumar Sonu; and former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor Tanvir Dhaliwal, into the party fold.
Others leaders including former Punjab Congress secretary Romilla Bansal; chief organiser of Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj Naresh Dhingan; Vishal Batra (Sonu Bengali) and Phool Badan (Phoola) also joined AAP in presence of cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchakk in Chandigarh.
Dhaliwal, who was also face of SAD’s youth wing, is likely to contest the municipal polls from ward number 71 this time. While it is expected that AAP will field Rampal from ward 75, Sonu and Jawaddi are likely to get party tickets from wards 68 and 70, respectively. Ghuman is expected to contest from ward number 77.
Congress had won from 62 of the 95 wards in the last municipal elections in 2018. It had won 16 out of 17 wards in Ludhiana west constituency and the lone BJP councillor Maninder Kaur Ghumman also joined Congress ahead of the recent assembly elections.
Gogi said that these leaders came forward on their own to join AAP as they are working to improve the state and living conditions of the public. He added that more councillors and prominent leaders are expected to join the party in the coming days.
Turncoat leaders rejected by public: Sharma
Meanwhile, the opposition parties slammed the turncoat leaders, terming them “opportunists” and “rejects”,
District Congress president Ashwani Sharma stated that majority of the Congress leaders who joined AAP have been rejected by the public in the past. “They have joined AAP in search for party tickets, as they could not get it from Congress due to their bad performance. Rampal jumping ship is a loss for the party, but there are many other leaders who can replace her.”
Similarly SAD district president Harbhajan Singh Dang stated that former councillor Dhaliwal took a bad decision by leaving and termed his an opportunist.
