Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) president and Khadoor Sahib’s sitting MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura on Sunday sharply criticised Punjab Ekta Party (PEP) president Sukhpal Singh Khaira for his dilly dallying approach to withdraw the nomination of Bibi Paramjeet Kaur Khalra as Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) candidate.
“Earlier, Khaira demanded from us to withdraw our candidate General JJ Singh from Khadoor Sabhib constituency to strengthen the hands of Bibi Khalra. Now, while we have withdrawn our candidate from the election fray, Khaira is reluctant to field Bibi Khalra as an independent,” alleged Brahmpura.
“We have decided to support Bibi Paramjeet Kaur Khalra now, but some other like-minded parties are not ready to support her if she contests the election as a PDA candidate. We cannot ignore the importance of other parties without taking any risk,” he said.
Brahampura said that in case Bibi Khalra contested polls as an independent candidate from Khadoor Sahib, even Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) state unit president Bhagwant Mann had assured to support her.
“Besides, some more parties, social working and human rights committees may also join to support her. But now, many are saying that they would not support Bibi Khalra if she is Khaira’s candidate,” he added.
Maintaining that AAP is also a big factor in Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency, Brahmpura said: “If AAP is there, it may lead to a split in votes which would surely benefit the two traditional parties in the battle field...If we are united, we can easily defeat the Congress and SAD who are no longer popular among the masses.”
“But if there are more candidates in election fray and we fail to reach a consensus on the nomination of Bibi Kharla to field her as an independent candidate, it would be our loss,” he added.
Brahmpura said that we could only request and appeal Khaira to honour the sentiments of the masses and Sikhs abroad because her husband had laid down his life the great cause during militancy. “People want Jaswant Singh Khalra’s wife to elect as MP. Now ball is in Khaira’s court whether he gives up his ego rising above politics and announces Bibi as an independent candidate. If there is any loss of votes due to it, it would be Khaira’s responsibility alone,” he added.
At the same time, Brahmpura refused to even considering returning to SAD while responding to a statement made by party president Sukhbir Badal. “I am not going to say much in this regard as we have been a family for about half the century. But there is no going back now. We shall contest the elections as a SAD (Taksali) is here to stay,” he added.
