Akali Dal expels former Speaker’s son Ravi Karan Kahlon

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, May 15

Shiromani Akali Dal today expelled Majha youth wing president Ravi Karan Kahlon from the party on disciplinary grounds. He remained chairman of the Punjab Tube-well Corporation.

Yesterday, he had scheduled a series of meetings in Fatehgarh Churian for the SAD candidate Daljit Singh Cheema. However, as Cheema was all set to travel to attend these meetings from Gurdaspur, he got a call from one of his loyalists that Ravi had cancelled these meetings. When Cheema contacted Ravi, he was unable to give a satisfactory answer.

The party was thinking of taking this action ever since he cancelled the meetings. However, it was on the insistence of Cheema that SAD took no action yesterday.

For the last several days, Ravi had been meeting his supporters at his residence asking them about ‘the next step to be taken’. He is reportedly mulling to join AAP. Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan is coming to Qadian on Thursday to hold a rally and it is widely expected that Ravi may join AAP in his presence. When contacted, Ravi neither confirmed nor denied this development.

Cheema had been regularly informing party president Sukhbir Singh Badal about Ravi’s anti-party activities for the last one week.

Senior party leaders have termed this development as “good riddance” for he had started damaging the electoral prospects of party’s official candidate.

Ravi contested the 2022 Assembly elections from the Dera Baba Nanak. He had lost to Sukhjinder Randhawa of the Congress.

He is the son of former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon.

The senior Kahlon also remained Minister for Rural Development. He and Ravi were considered to be close to ex-CM Parkash Singh Badal.

Congressmen of the area were taken aback when they got information that Ravi had been sacked from the party. “The SAD had given Ravi and his father, Nirmal Kahlon, so much yet Ravi has decided to leave the party when it needed him the most. This is totally unethical,” said an ex-cabinet minister.

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