Expelled AAP leader joins SAD

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 16

Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) senior leader and 2014 Jalandhar parliamentary election candidate Jyoti Mann (Akshra) joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) here today .

Welcoming Mann into the party fold, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said with Mann’s joining, the party would be strengthened in the Doaba region.

Talking to mediapersons at the residence of Baba Ravan here, the SAD president said Mann was joining the party without any conditions. He said her services would be used appropriately.

Mann said she left AAP because volunteers who had built the party in Punjab were being ignored and outsiders had taken complete control of the party. She said she would work to unite the Dalit Samaj in favour of the SAD because it was the sole party which had taken care of the downtrodden and extended numerous facilities to them.

Answering questions, the SAD president added that Navjot Singh Sidhu had become irrelevant in Punjab politics as he had put himself on sale to the highest bidder. He said it was most shocking that Sidhu had joined the Congress, which had been abusing for more than 10 years. He said knowing his arrogant and egoistic nature of Sidhu, it would not be long before Sidhu leaves the Congress and started abusing it again. “Such leaders lose all credibility and are not trusted by the people,” he added.

When asked, Badal welcomed Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu’s decision to contest from Jalalabad. He said the MP should however resign from his Ludhiana seat before coming to Jalalabad. He said both Bittu and comedian Bhagwant Mann would face humiliating defeats. “They will be shown their place by the people of the constituency who will reward performance and not opportunism and comedy,” he added.