Dimpy Dhillon joins AAP after quitting Akali Dal ahead of Gidderbaha bypoll

Chandigarh, August 28

Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, who quit the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) recently, joined the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday.

Dhillon was considered close to SAD chief Sukhbir Badal.

He quit SAD on Sunday, apparently upset over not being given the party ticket from the Gidderbaha assembly seat, which fell vacant after Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was elected as Lok Sabha member from Ludhiana.

A bypoll will be held to fill the vacancy.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann formally inducted Dimpy Dhillon into the party fold during a public meeting in Gidderbaha in Muktsar, said an AAP statement.

It said Dhillon joined the party with hundreds of his supporters from the Akali Dal. Dhillon contested the assembly elections from Gidderbaha on an Akali Dal ticket both in 2017 and 2022.

In 2022, he lost to Congress’ Amrinder Singh Raja Warring by a narrow margin of just over 1,300 votes.

Mann said that Dimpy Dhillon did not leave SAD. “Rather, the party left him.”

“When good ideas and valuable individuals are not given importance within a party, people are forced to leave,” said Mann.

Dhillon’s parting with SAD comes at a time when the party is facing the worst rebellion in its history with a section of its leaders revolting against Sukhbir Badal, demanding that he step down as party chief following the SAD’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.