Ex-BJP minister Anil Joshi joins Akali Dal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 20

In a blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a battery of its leaders led by former minister Anil Joshi and former BJP MLA Sukhjit Shahi joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Anil Joshi termed the development as a major boost for Hindu-Sikh unity and sign of an exodus from the BJP, which is facing flak in the state over the farm laws.

Badal announced that Joshi had been appointed senior vice-president of the party and would be fielded from the Amritsar-North constituency as the joint SAD-BSP alliance candidate. The seat was allocated to the BSP when its alliance with the SAD was announced earlier.

Joshi had earned fame by installing the tallest pillar to hoist the national flag near the Attari border. Known as a firebrand speaker, Joshi had criticised the party over its stubborn attitude on farm laws. The BJP had expelled him last month.

Sujanpur municipal committee president Raj Kumar Gupta also joined the SAD. He was appointed the vice-president of the party and would be fielded as the joint SAD-BSP alliance candidate from Sujanpur.

Other leaders who were inducted into the SAD today and given key posts include former Dasuya legislator Sukhjit Kaur Shahi, BJP state working committee member Kamal Chatly and former Ludhiana Deputy Mayor RD Sharma. Former BJP youth wing president Mohit Gupta was appointed the general secretary.

Terming the induction of senior BJP leaders into the SAD fold as a historic event, the SAD president said, “I will forfeit my life but won’t let peace and communal harmony of Punjab be destroyed at any cost.”

Joshi said he was forced to take the extreme step of quitting a party which he had nourished because the BJP turned a blind eye to the genuine demands of farmers. “Even our state leaders misled the central leadership,” he said.

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