Mohali Mayor, 10 councillors set to return to SAD fold today

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 9

The first Mayor of Mohali, Kulwant Singh, along with 10 councillors of his Azad Group, including his son Sarabjit Singh, will rejoin the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) tomorrow.

SAD president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will formally welcome them on their “ghar wapsi” at the head office of the party in Chandigarh.

Real estate baron Kulwant, in his mid-50s, has, meanwhile, ruled out any plans to contest the next Assembly poll, due early next year. “I will not contest the next Assembly elections,” Kulwant told Chandigarh Tribune, while confirming that he and his 10 fellow councillors would formally rejoin the SAD tomorrow.

Having already served as the president of the Mohali Municipal Council, the owner of one of the leading real estate firms of the region, JLPL, which has already developed two independent sectors in Mohali, townships in Ludhiana and Kharar, and Kasauli and Handli in Himachal Pradesh, with an annual turnover exceeding Rs 1,500 crore, was expelled from the SAD in the run-up to the 2015 maiden elections to the Mohali Municipal Corporation.

Later, he floated the Azad Group to contest the MC poll, in which he won 11 seats. In the absence of an absolute majority to any party, Kulwant’s Azad Group, with the support of 15 Congress councillors (including Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu as ex officio member) and two Independents, was elected the first Mayor of Mohali in August last year.

Believed to be a close aide of Sukhbir, Kulwant had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Fatehgarh Sahib seat.