Is Lakha Sidhana pursuing political agenda?

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 24

With the Punjab Assembly elections less than a year away, gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana’s rise is setting alarm bells ringing in the political circles in the region.

Despite being on the run and wanted by the Delhi Police, Lakha’s rally at Mehraj village has a bigger political meaning. His close aides made a political pitch for him by giving a call that people should reject the SAD, Congress and AAP and elect people like Lakha who only talked about Punjab.

In the rally, there were clear indications that Sidhana was eyeing to play a major political innings in the upcoming Assembly polls in 2022.

Besides, even radical groups are sensing an opportunity to recover the lost political ground on the issue in the state and, hence, they all have come together on one platform and started rallying behind Lakha Sidhana and Deep Sidhu.

If Mehraj rally was any indication, Lakha Sidhana succeeded in presenting himself and Deep Sidhu as heroes of the community amongst the public with Khalsa flags outnumbering farmer unions’ flags at the venue.

A large numbers of youth were seen wearing T-shirts with photos of Sidhana and Deep Sidhu and carrying placards in their support.

Sidhana had unsuccessfully contested 2012 Assembly elections from the Rampura Phul segment on PPP ticket, the party launched by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, which later got merged into the Congress.

Mobike owner called by cops

Bhola Singh, a resident of Mehraj village on whose motorcycle Lakha Sidhana fled from the rally on Tuesday, was called to the Rampura City police station. However, the police denied that they had called Bhola to the police station. TNS