TE24 International Desk:
The Congress in Punjab got a shock on Saturday when four previous priests of the party — Balbir Sidhu, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurpreet Kangar and Sundar Sham Arora — joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in presence of Union home clergyman Amit Shah.
Shah, who was on a day’s visit through Chandigarh to initiate the Khelo India game in Panchkula, enlisted the previous priests alongside two ex-boss parliamentary secretaries from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) — Sarup Chand Singla and Bibi Mohinder Kaur Josh.
Money manager and previous Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Singh Dhillon, and Congress’ sitting city chairman from Mohali, Amarjeet Singh Sidhu, additionally joined the saffron outfit. The city chairman is sibling of previous wellbeing priest Balbir Sidhu. Previous Congress MLA Kamaljeet S Dhillon , late Amrik Singh Dhillon’s child, additionally joined the BJP.
The previous priests who joined the BJP were viewed as near Amarinder Singh when he was the Congress boss clergyman. Three of them, with the exception of Verka, were taken out as clergymen after Singh was casually eliminated as boss clergyman. He was supplanted by Charanjit Singh Channi about four months before the get together decisions.
Verka, a four-time MLA from Amritsar West, was the substance of the party in the media and had filled in as bad habit executive of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste during the United Progressive Alliance system in New Delhi. Arora, a previous ventures priest and previous Hoshiarpur legislator, was as of late made VP of Punjab pradesh Congress board.
Sidhu, a previous wellbeing priest, is multiple times MLA from Mohali, Kangar, a previous income serve, as well, had won from the Rampura gathering electorate of Bathinda locale seat threefold.
Barely a month ago, previous Punjab pradesh Congress board boss Sunil Jakhar left for the BJP and is currently figured out how to play had a critical impact in getting the previous clergymen the saffron overlay. Later in the day, Jakhar facilitated Shah at supper at his Panchkula home alongside the other Congress pioneers.
The BJP has only two MLAs in the Punjab gathering. Its endeavors to check its presence in the state came a cropper in the 2022 gathering surveys albeit the party had challenged on 73 seats. It was BJP’s most horrendously terrible ever execution in the beyond five gathering surveys, even as its vote share in the state rose marginally to 6.8%.
In the mean time, Shah in his location to BJP laborers said put all bits of hearsay regarding a potential restrict with the SAD was unwarranted. The BJP will challenge the 2024 general races on its own in Punjab, he said.
“Anybody needing to go along with us should come in as a more modest accomplice and challenge under the kamal (lotus image). We assumed the part of more modest accomplice prior in light of a legitimate concern for Hindu-Sikh unit and presently the BJP will assume greater part for a similar shared concordance,” Shah said.
Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party, he expressed that in only three months, the decision party has disclosed its face of duplicity and misdirection.