BJP goes with Arvind Khanna from Sangrur, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi Ferozepur

New Delhi, May 8

The BJP on Wednesday released the 19th list of three candidates for the June 1 Punjab Lok Sabha elections fielding Arvind Khanna from Sangrur, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi from Ferozepur and Subhash Sharma from Anandpur Sahib. Khanna, who has been campaigning in Sangrur for days, was earlier Congress MLA from Sangrur (2002 to 2007) and Dhuri (2012 to 2014).

He resigned as the Dhuri MLA in May 2014 amid discontent in the Punjab Congress at the time. After quitting the Congress in 2015, he joined the BJP in January 2022. Khanna is close to former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh.

Sodhi, a special invitee to the BJP national executive, is an erstwhile Congress leader and former Punjab minister.

He was elected MLA from Ferozepur’s Guru Har Sahai in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017, and was previously also Chief Whip of the CLP in Punjab.

Sodhi was dropped from the Cabinet in September 2021 after Charanjit Singh Channi took over as CM. He joined the BJP in December 2021. Subhash Sharma is the state vice-president of Punjab BJP and overtook former MP Avinash Rai Khanna and BJP parliamentary board member Iqbal Lalpura and his son in the candidacy race.