Akali Dal’s Chandigarh candidate Hardeep Singh who quit party joins AAP, boost for Congress' Manish Tewari

Chandigarh, May 9

Shiromani Akali Dal Lok Sabha candidate from Chandigarh Hardeep Singh, who recently left the party, has joined the Aam Aadmi Party, in a development that could be a major boost to INDIA bloc’s Lok Sabha candidate Manish Tewari.

The SAD, which was going to fight the Lok Sabha election from Chandigarh for the first time, received a big blow two days ago when Hardeep Singh, a three-term councillor and SAD’s city president, resigned from the party.

Hardeep’s is a councillor from Ward Number 30 (Sector 41, Badheri and Butrela). His father Gurnam Singh and brother Malkiat Singh have been councillors from the ward in 2006 and 2011, respectively. Incidentally, both died during their tenure as councillor. After his brother’s death, Hardeep was elected councillor from the ward in 2015, 2016 and 2021. He rose to become Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The lone SAD councillor, who is into tenting business, was to be pitted against BJP’s Sanjay Tandon and Congress’ Manish Tewari, making it a three-cornered fight.