Former Punjab minister Sohan Singh Thandal returns to SAD
Thandal quit the SAD on October 24 last year and joined the BJP hours later. The BJP then named him as its candidate for the Chabbewal assembly bypoll
Ludhiana, Jun 5 (PTI) Former Punjab minister Sohan Singh Thandal returned to the Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday, months after unsuccessfully contesting the Chabbewal assembly bypoll on a BJP ticket in November last year.
Thandal joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal here.
Thandal quit the SAD on October 24 last year and joined the BJP hours later. The BJP then named him as its candidate for the Chabbewal assembly bypoll.
Welcoming Thandal back into the party, Badal said, "There is a growing feeling in Punjab that the SAD alone can deal with the menace of rampant corruption and gangster culture unleashed by the AAP government and bring back the era of peace and development." "This is the reason why Thandal has chosen to return to the party and this is why you will see a number of other leaders from all political parties joining the SAD in the coming days," the former deputy chief minister said.
Thandal said he left the SAD due to some issues in his constituency, but the party always remained close to his heart.
"I never criticised the party and I am happy that the party always held me in high esteem," he said.
Thandal underlined the need to give a befitting reply to the AAP in the June 19 Ludhiana West assembly bypoll.
"SAD candidate Parupkar Ghumman is by far the best candidate in the field and I am confident that people will support him wholeheartedly," he said.
Thandal had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Hoshiarpur constituency on a SAD ticket.
Once a core committee member of the SAD, he won the 2012 assembly polls from the Chabbewal seat. However, his re-election bids in 2017 and 2022 were unsuccessful.
Thandal was the minister for jails, tourism and cultural affairs in the Akali government in Punjab. He was the MLA from the erstwhile Mahilpur assembly constituency in 1997, 2002 and 2007.
Speaking at the event earlier, Badal alleged that the AAP government has "ruined" Punjab.
There is a heightened sense of "insecurity" in the state as it is witnessing murders and extortions every day.
"The people of Ludhiana have also witnessed how all development work came to a halt during the last eight years under both the Congress and AAP governments.
"There is also anger amongst farmers who feel that the AAP government is bent on forcibly evicting them from their lands by acquiring 24,000 acres of land, which is aimed at filling the AAP's coffers," he alleged.
"We will not allow even an inch of land to be acquired," Badal asserted while appealing to people to strengthen the SAD.
He also accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of "surrendering the reins of power to Arvind Kejriwal and his coterie".
"Never before has Punjab witnessed such a weak chief minister who is content enjoying the facilities of his post but has handed over the power of the state to Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain," the Akali Dal chief claimed.
"There is a fit case to proceed against the chief minister as he has broken the oath of secrecy by allowing all files to be decided by the Delhi coterie," Badal further alleged. PTI