Of 9 candidates in 2017 polls, 4 opt out of AAP

JALANDHAR: A day after two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) along with their supporters ahead of the Shahkot assembly bypoll on May 28, its (AAP) candidate from Adampur in the 2017 elections, Hans Raj Rana too opted out on Monday. Rana was welcomed into the party by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal at a function organized in Santokhpura locality.
So far, out of the nine assembly constituencies of Jalandhar district, three AAP candidates have joined SAD in the runup for Shahkot assembly byelection.During Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll, out of the nine assembly constituencies under it, five AAP candidates of 2017 had left the party.
On Sunday, Jalandhar Cantonment candidate H S Walia had joined SAD. Former spokesperson of AAP Colonel C D Singh Kamboj (retired). Jalandhar (urban) president Babbu Neelkanth has already joined Congress.
Earlier Aam Aadmi Party’s Shahkot candidate Dr Amarjit Singh Thind had joined SAD. Party’s Kartarpur candidate Chandan Grewal was first in the district to leave the party and he resigned a few months back. However he did not join any other party.
During Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll in August 2017, five candidates out of nine assembly segments, which are part of Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency, left the party when campaigning was on.
Former AAP convenor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, who had contested from Batala (part of Gurdaspur) resigned in May last year after he was replaced by Bhagwant Singh Mann. He was the only one who did not join any other party and left much before the bypoll.
“With so many candidates of 2017 assembly election leaving the party, it clearly reflects on the working of Delhi-based AAP leaders who had taken all the decisions about candidates as they had complete control on the party at micro level. They decided everything on their own,” said an old AAP volunteer.
Sources said the issue of so many candidates of 2017 polls leaving the party even came up at a meeting held with local volunteers by leaders of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira and state co-convenor Dr Balbir Singh.
“Several old party volunteers, who had stopped working after Delhi-based leaders imposed their courtiers as local leaders, also attended the meeting. The common sentiment was that opportunists were leaving the party who had joined and got close to observers from Delhi when there was sentiment in the state for the party,” said a local volunteer working in AAP for the last few years.