On Thursday Shiromani Akali Dal leader Ravikaran Singh Kahlon joined the BJP, a day after he was expelled by the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led party. Kahlon was welcomed into the party fold by Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar and party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
Kahlon is the son of former Punjab Assembly speaker and rural development and panchayat minister Nirmal Singh Kahlon. Kahlon had unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls from the Dera Baba Nanak seat.
On Wednesday Badal expelled Kahlon from the primary membership of the SAD for anti-party activities and backstabbing the party. Dera Baba Nanak is one of the nine Assembly segments of the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency. Nirmal Singh, who was the MLA for Fatehgarh Churian in 1997 and 2007, was rural development and panchayat minister in 1997 and Vidhan Sabha speaker from 2007 to 2012.
Ravi Karan is thus believed to have influence in both the Assembly segments. “My father used to contest from Fatehgarh Churian and I also used to work in that area a lot, but despite that the Akali Dal gave me the ticket from Dera Baba Nanak in 2022, but I lost the election to the Congress’s Sukhjinder Randhawa by a thin margin. I raised my voice over this injustice. Only because of this was I expelled from the party. I have joined the BJP because of the vision of PM Narendra Modi and will work hard for the party,” he said.
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