Post AAP, Mehraj to take on Maluka, Kangar

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 10

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gurpreet Singh Mehraj has decided to contest the Assembly elections as an Independent candidate from the Rampura Phul constituency.

Mehraj accused AAP of giving the ticket to the son of a ‘notorious smuggler’. AAP has given the ticket to Manjit Singh Bitti for the Assembly elections. Gurpreet Singh Kangar is contesting elections on the Congress ticket while the SAD has given the ticket to Sikander Singh Maluka.

“I am contesting elections for the first time, but my mother was elected sarpanch of Mehraj village unanimously. We had worked a lot for the party but the party did not value our work. It has given the ticket to a person who does not deserve to be a member of the party. On the one hand, the party accuses persons like Bikram Majithia of being involved in drug smuggling while on the other, it gives the ticket to a candidate who is the son of a notorious drug smuggler, who was convicted in a number of cases. The issue was brought to the notice of the senior leaders of the party, but they did not bother about it.”

“I would contest from the Rampura constituency as an Independent candidate and history will repeat itself. In 2002, Gurpreet Kangar won as Independent and I will also win from here,” said Mehraj.

AAP candidate Bitti (46) said, “People like Gurpreet Mehraj may have worked for long for AAP, but they seems to be unaware of its constitution. I am a clean candidate and one cannot blame a son for his father’s fault. My father Mohinder Singh Sailbrah was not convicted in any case and after 1977, no case was registered against him. There is no case pending against me. Though, a case of fighting was registered against me during my college time.”