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Patti MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar’s political rise and controversies
Bhullar, whose family owns 60 acres of agricultural land and runs a commission shop at Patti grain market, started as a Shiromani Akali Dal worker and was closely associated with Kairon.
From a commission agent and agriculturist, Laljit Singh Bhullar, 45, has risen steadily since defeating four-time Patti MLA Adesh Partap Singh Kairon by a comfortable margin in the 2022 assembly polls that brought Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to power in Punjab with a brute majority.
Bhullar, whose family owns 60 acres of agricultural land and runs a commission shop at Patti grain market, started as a Shiromani Akali Dal worker and was closely associated with Kairon.
In 2015, after a series of sacrilege incidents rocked the state, Bhullar shifted his allegiance to Congress leader Harminder Singh Gill. Gill eventually went on to win the 2017 state polls. In 2019, Bhullar joined AAP and was made the halqa incharge of the party. Riding the AAP wave, Bhullar was elected as Patti MLA in 2022, bagging 57,323 votes, while SAD’s Kairon secured 46,324 votes. Elevated to cabinet minister, Bhullar, before his exit, was incharge of two portfolios—transport and prison. Earlier, his portfolios also included rural and panchayati raj as well as animal husbandry.
In 2021, despite a sustained campaign against him, Bhullar managed to hold opposition at bay, managing to secure a win for AAP candidates in the municipal council polls, cementing his place in the Punjab AAP’s pegging order.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, AAP fielded him from Khadoor Sahib. Independent candidate Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), toppled Congress’ Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1,97,120 votes. Bhullar stood third with 1,94,836 votes.
Bhullar is not new to controversy. In 2024, Bhullar stirred a row with his remark against the Ramgarhia and Swarankar communities while addressing an election rally in Patti. The purported video clip went viral over social media, and he had to tender an apology at the Golden Temple.
On June 10, 2022, Bhullar’s video surfaced in which he was sitting atop his SUV with two Punjab Police personnel dangling from windows.
The video invited sharp criticism from the opposition.
