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Talk of Sekhri joining SAD, Cong’s Verka meets three-time Batala MLA
Amid speculations of former Batala MLA Ashwani Sekhri joining the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), senior Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka on Sunday met him at the former’s Ranjit Avenue residence in Amritsar to pacify him
Amid speculations of former Batala MLA Ashwani Sekhri joining the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), senior Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka on Sunday met him at the former’s Ranjit Avenue residence in Amritsar to pacify him.
There is a strong buzz that Sekhri, a three-time MLA, may join the SAD in presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday as he is feeling suffocated in the party over alleged interference by cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa in his constituency.
Verka, the ruling party legislator from Amritsar West and chairman of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, said, “Sekhri is my senior party colleague and part of family. I will request him to not take any such step. Punjab Congress affairs incharge Harish Rawat and chief minister Amarinder Singh are also reaching out to him,” said Verka.
Sekhri, who served on key posts in Congress and is known as a Hindu face of the party in Majha, was not available for comments. He lost the 2017 assembly elections to SAD candidate Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal by only 500 votes. Since then, neighbouring Fatehgarh Churian MLA Tript Bajwa increased his activities in the Batala segment.
Bajwa managed to put his loyalists at the helm in the Batala municipal corporation, further marginalising Sekhri. in September last year, Sekhri had filed a police complaint against Tript Bajwa for ‘ignoring’ Covid-19 norms.
The former minister of state also met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on June 22. After meeting Rahul, he had questioned the role of CM Amarinder Singh in the current turmoil in the party.
‘Assured of addressing all his concerns’
Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday said former minister Ashwani Sekhri will stay in the Congress and there is no question of his leaving the party.
In a statement, Amarinder said he spoke to Sekhri and assured him that all his concerns will be addressed. “Sekhri is a dyed-in-the wool Congressman who has spent his whole life with the party and all the rumours about his leaving the party are baseless,” he said.
It is the party’s duty and responsibility to watch and safeguard the interests of all senior leaders, he added.
