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Ahead of Jalandhar bypoll, veteran Akali leader Atwal’s son joins BJP
Ahead of the high-stakes May 10 Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, son of veteran Akali leader Charanjit Singh Atwal, joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Sunday
Jalandhar: Ahead of the high-stakes May 10 Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, son of veteran Akali leader Charanjit Singh Atwal, joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Sunday.
Inder Iqbal, a Dalit Sikh and former MLA from Koom Kalan in Ludhiana, was inducted into the BJP at party headquarters in the presence of Union cabinet minister Hardeep Singh Puri and other senior leaders. He is likely to be declared as the BJP candidate for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, people familiar with the development said.
Inder Iqbal’s younger brother Jasjeet Singh Atwal also joined the saffron party. Both Inder Iqbal and Jasjeet were in touch with senior BJP leaders for the past fortnight and held several meetings with them before their formal induction.
Charanjit Atwal, who remained deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009 and speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha twice, unsuccessfully contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Jalandhar constituency against Congress’ Santokh Singh Chaudhary, who died following a cardiac arrest during party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 14, necessitating the bypoll.
Charanjit Atwal unsuccessfully contested state assembly polls from Kartarpur and Phillaur constituencies twice.
Inder Iqbal won state assembly elections last in 2002 from Koom Kalan but faced defeat in the 2007 and 2017 polls.
Reacting to Inder Iqbal joining the saffron party, senior Akali leader Daljit Singh Cheema said: “It is politics of opportunism and people have already stopped appreciating such turncoats.”
“The SAD has always been with the Atwal family. Instead of standing by the party in this hour of crisis, such leaders are deserting it,” he added.
The SAD is yet to announce its candidate for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll. Party insiders say that former cabinet minister in the Akali government, who shifted to the Congress before the 2017 elections, is likely to join the party in the coming days.
The Congress took a lead by announcing former MP Santokh Chaudhary’s wife Karamjit Kaur as the candidate for the bypoll. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) named Congress turncoat and former MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku as its nominee.
Ruling AAP threatening Cong workers: Phillaur MLA
Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary on Sunday alleged that the ruling party is threatening Congress leaders and workers to keep them away from campaigning for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll. He alleged the AAP was trying to silence the Opposition leaders by intimidating them of slapping fabricated charges so they can’t openly campaign for Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary.
“The government has resorted to misuse of state agencies to coerce the Opposition leaders by cooking up malicious accusations,” he alleged.
He said the party will approach the Election Commission of India.
Cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who is also AAP’s election in-charge for the Jalandhar bypoll, paid obeisance at Dera Sachkhand Ballan on Sunday evening. With an eye on Dalit vote bank, Cheema, accompanied by party candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku, met dera head Niranjan Dass. Later, Cheema also visited a temple and gurdwara to seek blessings. It may be mentioned that Dera Ballan, situated 18km from Jalandhar, is considered to have strong political clout due to its association with Dalits in Doaba region.
