Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya quits Shiromani Akali Dal

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 4

More than two years after his ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) soured, Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya resigned today even as his parent party claimed he had been “expelled”.

The two-time MP, claimed sources, was in touch with the Congress and the SAD (Taksali) and was seeking re-nomination from Ferozepur in the coming elections. 

The MP was tight-lipped on his future course, but speculation is rife he may join the Congress in Moga on March 7 at a rally to be addressed by party president Rahul Gandhi. “I am undecided on which way to go, but will surely re-contest from Ferozepur,” he told The Tribune.

Sources said Ghubaya had told the Congress he would join the party only if given the ticket. He is also learnt to have begun back-channel talks with the SAD (Taksali). 

Elected on the SAD ticket in 2009 and in 2014, Ghubaya belongs to the Rai Sikh community, which has a considerable presence in Ferozepur. 

Ghubaya, whose son Devinder Singh won from Fazilka on the Congress ticket in the 2017 Assembly polls, fell out with the top brass in 2016 after which his colleges were raided. Just before the Assembly polls, an alleged MMS purportedly showing him with a woman went viral.

Ghubaya is the second Akali MP to quit the party.