Setback for Congress as 8 ex-councillors join AAP in Jalandhar

Jalandhar, October 14

The Congress faced a major setback here after eight of its former councillors joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the Municipal Corporation elections that are expected in a month or so.

The ex-councillors joined the ruling AAP in Chandigarh in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP Sushil Rinku, Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh, AAP MLA Raman Arora, general secretary Punjab Jagroop S Sekhwan, state secretary Rajwinder Kaur Thiara and others.

Among those who joined the AAP is Desraj Jassal, who was a sitting Congress councillor from Ward No. 80 in the last house. He had left the party ahead of the 2022 Vidhan Sabha polls as he had contested as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha candidate from Jalandhar North.

There were four other Congress councillors from the last MC House that got dissolved earlier this year upon completion of its five-year term. They are Manmohan Singh Raju from Ward No. 16, Deepak Sharda from Ward No. 62, JP Shamsher S Khehra from Ward No. 8 and Parveena Manu from Ward No. 11. Parveena’s husband Manu Warring, who was vice-president of the district Congress, also joined the AAP. Likewise, ex-councillor from Ward No. 6 Nirmal S Nimma’s wife Dalwinder Kaur, who too has been Congress councillor in 2012, also joined the AAP. Nimma had already joined the AAP a few months ago.

Om Parkash and Balkrishan Bali, who have been four-time Congress councillors in previous terms, also joined the AAP. Others to join AAP were Sunil Kumar Sodhi, who is the nephew of five-time councillor Gian Sodhi, and Vijay Bhatia, who had contested ward no.3 elections in 2018 but had lost.

Former Mayor Raja’s entry to AAP stalled

There were speculations that former Mayor Jagdish Raja could also join the AAP. However, his joining was reportedly stalled by new councillor joinees who put in a word to the AAP leadership and got his entry stalled. Following this, the district Congress leadership is learnt to have apprised its state leadership of the development and has recommended that he be expelled from the party. Any likely action against him by the Congress would surely be detrimental for the ex-Mayor, whose wife Anita Raja has also been a three-time councillor and ex-Senior Deputy Mayor.

Cong had 65/80 wards in 2018 MC elections

Most of the councillors who moved the AAP way on Saturday were from Jalandhar North and Jalandhar Central constituencies. AAP, it is learnt, is strategising to pull in more ex-councillors ahead of the announcement of the MC polls. In the 2018 MC polls, the Congress had won with a thumping majority winning from as many as 65 out of 80 wards. This time, five more wards are set to be added. Reacting to today’s development, DCC chief Rajinder Beri said: “The ruling party in the state gets an advantage as it is easy for it to pull in councillors from other parties. But the Congress will surely give them all a tough fight by fielding in new promising faces for the polls”.