Gogi disputes Mand’s claim of rejoining Cong

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 14

In a farcical turn of events today, former vice-chairman of the PPCC local bodies cell Gursimran Singh Mand was “expelled” from the Congress, shortly after he “joined” the party today.

Mand, who had been part of the Manish Tiwari group, shared his photographs on the social media with MP Ranveet Bittu and MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu giving him siropa, projecting that differences with him had been mended and now he was part of the Congress.

Barely a couple of hours later, district Congress (urban) president Gurpreet Gogi issued a statement that ‘a person named Gursimran Singh Mand’ had not joined the Congress. Gogi stated that Mand had been involved in anti-Congress activities and was critical of the party. He had not joined the party. The district Congress (urban) chief apprised the MP and the MLA of anti-Congress background of Mand, and they agreed that Mand had no place in the Congress, said Gogi.

However, later in the evening, in a tweet to Rahul Gandhi, Mand again tried to portray that what Gogi had stated was not true, as he had worked as vice-chairman of the Local Bodies cell of the PPCC.

Mand was expelled from the Congress in 2014 for speaking against party president Partap Singh Bajwa. Later, he became vocal against the Congress after he joined AAP before the Assembly elections. However, he left AAP too.

But when Ashu was asked about the ‘siropa’ given to the leader, he said Mand was honoured as a “voter”. Asked if he was part of the Congress, he avoided answering, saying that he definitely was a voter.

Later, Mand said he had been a Congress man, and today Bittu and Ashu told him to be part of the ‘Ashu team’ and campaign rigorously for the party. He said even though he had not joined the Congress back formally, he had been working for the party for a year and now, he was ‘part of the Congress.’