In a major political development, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) on Sunday declared to withdraw the candidature of Indian army’s former chief General JJ Singh from Khadoor Sahib, and support the Punjab Democratic Alliance’s candidate Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra.
The decision was taken after a demand was raised from various quarters and even from within the newly created political outfit to support Bibi Khalra’s candidature, considering her contribution to the Sikh community.
“We have decided to withdraw the nomination of our candidate. People from Punjab and Punjabi Sikh diaspora, settled in different countries, were constantly in touch with us seeking our support to Bibi Khalra. They constantly asked us to support her due to great sacrifice of her husband Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was killed in police custody for raising the issue of cremation of thousands of dead bodies in Amritsar as unclaimed by the police during militancy,” said party president and sitting Khadoor Sahib MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura during a party rally at Mohali on Sunday evening.
“People were appealing us to withdraw our candidate from Khadoor Sahib through various medias, including social media. So respecting their sentiments, we have decided to do so,” he said, while appealing to Bibi Khalra to “contest elections as an independent instead of as a single party candidate”.
Brahmpura said that we would “assure her a win from Khadoor Sahib as I had myself won the last Parliamentary elections from there with a margin of about one lakh votes.
At the same time, he made it clear that the Taksalis were not extending support to Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) right now, but our option is open and if need be, we may consider our support to PDA in days to come”.
AAP rebel MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira had decided to field Bibi Khalra as the candidate of his newly-constituted Punjab Ekta Party (PEP) under the banner of Punjab Democratic Alliance — comprising six political outfits including PEP, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), Nawan Punjab Party by Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, BSP, CPI, and RMPI.
Welcoming the Taksalis’ “magnanimity”, PEP president Khaira appreciated its noble gesture by “unilaterally withdrawing their candidate from Khadoor sahib and announcing their support for Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra...This would go a long way to forge 100 percent unity in the opposition ranks of Punjab to defeat the corrupt traditional parties of Congress, SAD and BJP”.
Khaira urged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership also to learn a lesson from the Akali Dal Taksali decision and withdraw their nominee from Khadoor Sahib.
“By doing so, at least there would be one seat in the state where all opposition parties would be supporting Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra against the traditional political parties, which will further pave way for broader consensus in Punjab,” he said.
Khaira said that AAP candidate from Khadoor Sahib, Manjinder Singh Sidhu, has a criminal taint as he was one of the accused for publically beating up a Dalit girl Harbinder Kaur that was caught on camera few years back in Tarn Taran. “The brutal beating of the Dalit girl had rocked the state and the High Court had taken suo motu cognizance against the guilty and had given the victim girl police security cover,” he pointed.
