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Ludhiana: Councillor back to SAD five days after joining AAP
Former MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon, who welcomed Chatarveer Singh in the party fold, alleges that Chatarveer was threatened with police action and made to join the ruling party on December 23.
In a dramatic turn of events, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) councillor from Ward 20 Chatarveer Singh, alias Kamal Arora, who had joined the party on December 23, returned to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday. Former MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon, who welcomed Chatarveer Singh in the party fold, alleged that Chatarveer was threatened with police action and made to join the ruling party at 2.30 am on December 23.
Dhillon said, “To pressurise Chatarveer Singh, AAP implicated him in a case of abduction and assaulting a worker.” Dhillon also warned the Ludhiana police that if they took any action against Chatarveer Singh after rejoining SAD, they would stage a protest at the police commissioner’s office.
Chatarveer Singh, alias Kamal Arora, of the SAD had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on December 23, just 24 hours after an FIR was registered against him for alleged kidnapping and assault. The case, which includes multiple charges, was filed at the Division number 7 police station on December 22 based on a complaint by an AAP worker, Rakesh Kumar, of Sanjay Gandhi Colony.
Dhillon said, “In the FIR, AAP worker Rakesh Kumar claimed that he was abducted and thrashed by the accused the moment he came out of a polling booth on December 21. The complainant has no vote in Ludhiana.”
With the development, AAP has been restricted to 43 seats only while they need 48 councillors to install their mayor.
On December 26, in a dramatic flip-flop, Congress councillor from Ward 6 Jagdish Lal had joined AAP but returned to the Congress later in the day but, by evening, AAP minister Laljit Singh Bhullar and others again made him join the AAP.
