Congress MLA Dr Raj leaves party in lurch, joins AAP

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, March 15

The sudden turnover of the sole sitting Chabbewal Congress MLA and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Dr Raj Kumar to the Aam Aadmi Party’s court has left everyone, especially the Congress stunned.

Dr Raj was considered a strong aspirant for the Congress ticket from Hoshiarpur. He was the Congress candidate in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but had to face defeat despite garnering 3,72,790 votes (37.59 per cent of the total ballot cast).

Belonging to Ravidasia community, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal had a stronghold in the area. He was the Chairman of the Punjab Pradesh Congress SC Cell for many years. He contested the MLA election for the first time in 2012, but was defeated. In 2017, he was fielded again by the Congress and got elected.

A radiologist by profession, Dr Chabbewal has a chain of scan centres in and around the constituency. He was known in his Assembly segment for shunning the VIP culture and getting foundation stones laid and projects inaugurated by the elderly or little girls in villages.

In September last year, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal had come under the Vigilance scanner for allegedly distributing 4,601 fake sanction letters among the SC beneficiaries of the Punjab Nirman Programme ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls. Dr Chabbewal was also facing allegations of having forged sanction letters for the beneficiaries of two blocks, including Hoshiarpur 2 and Mahilpur, for Rs 4.96 crore scheme under which roofs of houses were to be repaired and a grant of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 was to be doled out per beneficiary.

The matter was raked up by the Chabbewal constituency Aam Aadmi Party in-charge and Chabbewal village sarpanch Harminder Singh Sandhu. Now, all eyes are on how does the local AAP leadership reacts to the Dr Chabbewal’s inclusion into the party.

AAP got a shot in the arm by getting Dr Raj into its fold leaving the Congress shocked. Some sources in the Congress say this was “something not unexpected” for the party which was now looking for alternatives and a couple of names for the ticket were doing rounds.

Arun Dogra Mickey, Congress district president and former MLA, said, “We never expected such a thing because the party has given Dr Chabbewal much respect and importance. No one could have imagined that he would ditch the Congress despite of all that the party has given to him.”

Meanwhile, Dr Chabbewal said, “I am impressed by the policies of the incumbent Punjab Government and their programmes for the betterment of the people. So, I have joined the AAP unconditionally.”

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#Aam Aadmi Party AAP #Congress #Hoshiarpur