Chandigarh| Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday inducted three rebel AAP MLAs Sukhpal Khaira, Piermal Singh and Jagdev Singh Kamlu into the party ahead of a meeting with the party high command in New Delhi. Assembly elections in the Congress-ruled state are likely to be held in March next year.
Punjab Congress tweeted and informed, “Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, before leaving for Delhi today, Sukhpal Khaira MLA and former Leader of Opposition and his two AAP MLA colleagues Jagdev Singh Kamlu, MLAs Maur and Piermal Singh Dhaula, MLA Bhadaura’s party. I welcome you.”
Firebrand Khaira, once a strong critic of Amarinder Singh, had quit the Congress and joined AAP in December 2015. He was elected from the Bholath assembly seat in 2017.
However, Khaira, the former Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, resigned from the primary membership of AAP in January 2019 and floated his own party, the Punjabi Ekta Party. The other two MLAs Kamlu and Dhaula were first time MLAs.
Patiala MP and Chief Minister’s wife Preneet Kaur were present at this function.
Amarinder Singh was called to Delhi to meet the Congress Committee to resolve the infighting in the Punjab unit.
The Chief Minister said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the inclusion of the three MLAs.
“All India Congress Committee (AICC) Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat and state unit chief Sunil Jakhar are busy in the consultation process with the three-member committee in Delhi,” the chief minister said.
