Former Akali MLA Harmeet Sandhu joins AAP

Senior SAD leader Harmeet Singh Sandhu joined ruling AAP on Tuesday, a setback for the Opposition party ahead of the Tarn Taran Assembly bypoll.

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Sandhu, a three-time legislator, is being considered as a front-runner for AAP ticket in the bypoll necessitated by the death of sitting party MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal.

Sandhu was elected as an MLA from Tarn Taran three conservative times, beginning with 2002 as an Independent candidate. He was subsequently elected to the Assembly in 2007 and 2012 on the SAD ticket. He had contested the previous two Assembly polls too but lost.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP’s Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia formally inducted Harmeet Sandhu into the party in Chandigarh. Several senior leaders of the party were also present on this occasion.

Addressing the media, Sandhu said he had been in politics for about 30 years and people of Tarn Taran always gave him love and respect.

“Now, circumstances have changed” he said, adding that the AAP government’s clear policies and honest intentions inspired him to join the party. Sandhu added that he was deeply impressed by the Mann government’s decision to bring a strict law against incidents of sacrilege.