Bagga expelled from SAD, says will join AAP

SAD leaders, however, maintained that they had not received any resignation letter and that he was expelled for anti-party activities

Amid reports that its senior leader Chaudhary Madan Lal Bagga was set to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) expelled him from the party for six years on Saturday evening. Soon after development, Bagga announced that he will be joining AAP on Sunday. He also stated that he had already tendered his resignation before the party expelled him.

Amid reports that its senior leader Chaudhary Madan Lal Bagga was set to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) expelled him from the party for six years on Saturday evening (HT File)

SAD leaders, however, maintained that they had not received any resignation letter and that he was expelled for anti-party activities.

Bagga has been elected councillor twice and was given the rank of a state minister during the SAD-BJP regime. Before expulsion, he was serving as the senior vice-president of the trade and industry wing of SAD.

As per information, Bagga was aspiring for a party ticket from Ludhiana North constituency for the 2022 elections. However, the seat was reserved for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) by the high command after the two parties entered into an alliance in the state. Upset over this, Bagga had decided to join the AAP.

Earlier too, Bagga had resigned from the SAD after he was denied a ticket from the constituency during the 2017 polls when the seat was reserved for a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate under the SAD-BJP alliance. Bagga contested the assembly elections as an independent and finished fourth in the elections.

Terming Bagga as a ‘traitor’, SAD district president Ranjit Singh Dhillon said he was involved in anti-party activities and thus expelled from the party.

Meanwhile, Bagga said he wants to serve the people and that cannot be done without a platform.