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Rebel AAP MLAs Sandoa, Baldev fail to appear before speaker for hearing on resignations
CHANDIGARH
CHANDIGARH
Rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators Amarjit Sandoa and Baldev Singh on Tuesday failed to appear before Punjab assembly speaker Rana KP Singh for a personal hearing on their resignations.
Rana KP had asked Sandoa and Baldev Singh to appear before him at his office regarding their resignation from the membership of the state assembly and petition for disqualification, respectively. “They informed me in writing about their inability to come for the hearing,” the speaker said.
A state assembly official said Baldev expressed his inability to attend the hearing due to “lower back pain” whereas Sandoa cited his father’s ill health. Sandoa, MLA from Rupnagar, had resigned from the membership of the state assembly after joining the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in May this year. The MLA was called by the speaker to ascertain that his resignation was “voluntary and genuine”.
Baldev, a first-time MLA from Jaitu, was among the eight legislators who rebelled against the AAP central leadership after it removed Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira from the post of leader of opposition in Punjab assembly in July 2018. He later joined the Khaira-led Punjab Ekta Party and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election. A petition has been filed for his disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Last month, the speaker had called two other AAP rebels, Khaira and Nazar Singh Manshahia, who had resigned as MLAs, but they, too, did not show up. HS Phoolka resigned as Dakha MLA. His resignation was accepted by the speaker on August 9.
