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Punjab: Denied ticket from Sangrur, ex-Cong MLA Goldy joins AAP
Former Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy, who quit the Congress over denial of the party ticket from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday
Chandigarh : Former Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy, who quit the Congress over denial of the party ticket from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann inducted Goldy into the party. Cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, who is the AAP candidate for Sangrur, was also present.
Welcoming Goldy into the party fold, Mann said he is a young and hardworking leader. “We need honest and sincere people to realise our dream of making Punjab rangla (vibrant),” the chief minister said, calling the ex-MLA his younger brother.
Mann slammed the Congress for giving tickets to relatives of leaders and ignoring the youths who play an important role in politics and nation-building. The CM said that Goldy made a place for himself in the Congress but he was sidelined.
“We have no high command or boss culture in our party. We are a family. We have found a young man in Malwa whose entry will strengthen the party,” he said, adding that Meet Hayer and Goldy are like his two arms in Malwa.
Hitting out at his former party, Goldy said he had not left the Congress but the party had ensured his exit. “We worked hard for the party. When it was time to allot tickets, they gave it to Sukhpal Khaira. He (Khaira) is now saying that he knew for more than six months that he will be contesting from Sangrur. If they (Congress leadership) had already decided on the candidate, why they asked me and my wife to apply for the ticket?” he questioned.
A former MLA from Dhuri, Goldy was a contender for the Congress ticket from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency but the party decided to field senior leader Sukhpal Khaira, a three-time MLA from Bholath, from the seat. Goldy was upset over being denied the Congress ticket and quit the party.
In a terse resignation letter to Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Tuesday, Goldy said he was disappointed with the state leadership and is resigning from the party’s primary membership. “With a heavy heart, I am making this decision. My family and close friends know how difficult it was for me to take this decision,” he wrote, sharing his resignation letter on Facebook.
The former MLA’s switch to the AAP is being considered a setback for the Congress in Sangrur. However, Warring said that Goldy had committed political suicide by leaving the Congress just because he did not get the ticket. “The Congress had given him the ticket and made him an MLA at a very young age. He should not level allegations against the party that gave him so much,” he said.
Goldy, who started as a student union leader, was elected president of the Panjab University Students’ Council in 2006. He won the Dhuri assembly seat in 2017, but then lost to Bhagwant Mann, a two-time MP from Sangrur, in 2022 by 58,206 votes. When Mann quit his Sangrur seat on getting elected to the Punjab assembly and becoming the chief minister, the Congress named Goldy as the party candidate for the June 2022 byelection. He finished third with 11.21% votes behind Simranjit Singh Mann of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Gurmail Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party.
