Councillor from Ward No. 27 joins Cong in presence of FM

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 14

Raj Kumar, an Independent councillor from Ward No.27, on Sunday joined the Congress in the presence of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal.

With his joining, the total number of Congress councillors has gone up to 24 from its tally of 10 in 2015.

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal welcomed the councillor into the party hold and assured him that he would be given due respect among the rank and file of the party.

In the 2015 MC elections, of the total 50 councillors in the MC, the SAD had 21, Congress 10, BJP 8 and Independents 11.

Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, two SAD councillors Sukhwinder Kaur and Tarloch Singh, BJP councillor Priyanka Goyal, along with Independent councillor Sanjay Biswal, had joined the Congress.

Later, in December last year, Independent councillor Jasvir Singh Jassa joined the Congress. Thereafter, SAD councillors Harmander Singh Sidhu, Rajinder Singh Sidhu, Baljit Singh Raju Sran, Sham Lal Jain and Santosh Mahant had also joined the party in the presence of the Finance Minister.

After this, Independent councillors Darshan Kumar and Pardeep Kumar Goyal had also joined the Congress. A few days ago, BJP councillor Assar Paswan, SAD councillor Shinder Kaur and Independent councillor Kamlesh Rani had joined the Congress.

However, Congress councillor Sharry Goyal had quit the party and had joined the SAD in the recent past, while Congress councillor Ram Dass died in December in 2017, leading to vacancy of the seat in ward No. 30.

This deflection in large numbers by even senior leaders like Harmander Singh Sidhu, Rajinder Singh Sidhu, Baljit Singh Raju Sran and Santosh Mahant indicates that the local Akali Dal leadership has failed to keep the party intact in testing times.

Cong tally goes up to 24 in MC house

• With councillor Raj Kumar joining the Congress, the total number of party councillors has gone up to 24 from its tally of 10 in 2015. 

• In the 2015 Municipal Corporation elections, of the total 50 councillors in the MC, the SAD had 21, Congress 10, BJP 8 and Independents 11.

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