After being denied a ticket in the first list of candidates released on Saturday for the Punjab assembly elections, former jails minister and six-time MLA Sarwan Singh Phillaur and his son Damanvir Phillaur have decided to leave the Congress and join the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).
Read also- Expelled Minister Harak Singh Rawat is likely to join Congress
Damanvir had been coveting the Congress ticket from the Phillaur reserved assembly constituency and had been active in the area, but he was passed up in favour of Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, the party’s 2017 election runner-up. In the previous election, Chaudhary was defeated by Shiromani Akali Dal’s Baldev Singh Khaira.
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the SAD’s president and a Rajya Sabha member, will induct the father-son combo into the SAD (Sanyukt) on Monday.
The Sanyukt (Sanyukt) is contesting the elections with the BJP and the Punjab Lok Congress, led by Capt Amarinder Singh.
Read also- Congress’ Archana Gautam bikini pics go viral
The former minister is the most recent leader to leave the Congress after the party denied him a ticket.
Nimisha Mehta, who was running for the Garhshankar seat, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday after the party chose Amarpreet Singh Lally, the former Punjab Youth Congress president. Chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi favoured Mehta, but campaign committee head Sunil Jakhar was against him.
Harjot Kamal Singh, a current Moga MLA, defected to the BJP after the Congress leadership decided to field actor Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood Sachar, who joined the party a week earlier.