6 months after quitting party, ex-Punjab minister Anil Joshi returns to Akali Dal

Six months after quitting the party, former MLA and ex-Punjab minister Anil Joshi on Monday rejoined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal in Ludhiana.

Welcoming Joshi back into the party, Badal said he would join SAD’s election campaign for the June 19 by-election to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat.

Stating that Joshi was like his younger brother, Badal said, “Our bond spans two decades. It gives me immense pleasure that Joshi ji has decided to rejoin SAD in the interest of Punjab and Punjabiat. We all feel there is a need to bring back the era of peace and communal harmony and we will strive for the same.”

Joshi said, “The need of the hour is to strengthen the regional party, which alone understands and chalks out its programmes and policies as per the aspirations of Punjabis.”

The SAD always safeguarded the interests of Punjabis and he was confident that it would continue to reflect the aspirations of each and every segment of the society, Joshi added.

Joshi, who resigned from the Akali Dal on November 20 last year, unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar on a SAD ticket.

He was also a two-time BJP MLA from Amritsar North between 2007 and 2017.

Joshi joined the SAD after the BJP expelled him for criticising the party for “mishandling” the farmers’ agitation in 2021.

He served as the local bodies and medical education and research minister in the SAD-BJP regime from 2012 to 2017. PTI