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AAP fields eye specialist from Patiala royals’ bastion
Balbir, a medical practitioner and a former associate of suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi, had campaigned for the latter before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, before parting ways with him.
The Aam Aadmi Party has announced the candidature of a qualified doctor from Patiala urban assembly seat from where Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh is likely to contest.
Party convener Arvind Kejriwal announced eye specialist Dr Balbir Singh’s name from the seat at a rally in Samana on Thursday.
Unlike the party strategy at Jalalabad where the party has fielded its heavyweight MP Bhagwant Mann against Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal, the party has given ticket to Dr Balbir, comparatively a weak candidate against Amarinder, who, since 2002, has won three successive elections with big margins.
Dr Balbir was reportedly demanding ticket from Sanaur or Patiala (rural).
Also read | It’s Bhagwant Mann versus Sukhbir Badal: AAP chief Kejriwal makes it official
At present, Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur represents the Patiala (urban) seat. She got elected after Amarinder resigned from assembly after being elected as the Lok Sabha member from Amritsar. In the 2014 assembly by-poll, the security of AAP candidate Harjit Singh Adaltiwala was forfeited.
Dr Balbir, a former associate of suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi, had campaigned for the latter in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, before parting ways with him.
“Now, it is the turn of the ‘Maharaja’ (Amarinder) to face defeat. Earlier, the AAP had packed the bags of the ‘Maharani’ (Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur) in the parliamentary elections,” said Kejriwal, while announcing ticket of Dr Balbir.
Pertinently, Dr Gandhi had trounced the Congress heavyweight Preneet Kaur in 2014 Lok Sahba elections. He is also an environmentalist.
