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Congress Ludhiana councillor Rakesh Prashar jumps ship, joins AAP ahead of the Punjab assembly elections
Ahead of the Punjab assembly elections. Congress Ludhiana councillor Rakesh Prashar, along few other former councillors and district unit office bearers, switched allegiance to AAP; Prashar is said to have left Congress following a rift with sitting congress MLA (central) Surinder Dawar
In a jolt to the Congress party in Ludhiana central constituency ahead of assembly elections, five-time councillor Rakesh Prashar, along with few other former councillors and district unit office bearers, on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The leaders were inducted into the party fold by AAP state president and chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh.
Prashar left Congress following a rift with sitting congress MLA (central) Surinder Dawar. The latter had earlier raised a complaint to district party president Ashwani Sharma, alleging that the five-time councillor was indulging in anti-party activities by secretly campaigning for his brother Ashok Prashar Pappi, who had joined AAP in October last year before being named as the party’s candidate from the central constituency.
After jumping ship, Parshar said Dawar’s incessant levelling of baseless allegations against him was what pushed him to switch parties.
Reacting to the same, district Congress president said Prashar quit after being warned of disciplinary action due to his anti-party activities. He further said that both Prashar and Pappi had joined AAP in 2016 and returned to Congress after the latter was denied the party ticket in 2017, before adding that their exit will not affect the party’s chances in the constituency.
In addition to Prashar, over a dozen more leaders including former councillors Satnam Ahuja, Ajay Nayyar (Tanki), former congress district vice-president Mahinder Saini, Manjinder Chauhan, Mukesh Verma, Babbu Walia, Amnish Prashar, Nirmal Virk among others also joined AAP.
