Malerkotla: Former minister Nusrat Akram Khan Bagga joins AAP

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Mahesh Sharma

Malerkotla, May 23

Election campaign of Aam Aadmi Party in Malerkotla received a shot in arm after former Sports Minister and SAD leader Nusrat Akram Khan Bagga announced his support after joining the AAP.

Bagga was inducted into the party fold by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at his residence in Sangrur today. Malerkotla’s AAP legislator Zamil Ur Rehman reportedly persuaded Bagga to join the party.

Bagga, a cricket enthusiast himself, had resigned from the Punjab Police as Jail Superintendent before contesting election as Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) candidate in 1997. He was considered a close confidante of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his wife Surinder Kaur Badal during their fifth cabinet tenure, when Bagga was sworn in as Sports Minister.

Maintaining that he had left his parent party due to unconcern of senior leaders towards resolution of factionalism in SAD, Bagga said he would try to rope in office-bearers and activists of local youth clubs and sports associations who had been associated with him since his stint as the Sports Minister.