Amritpal Singh in jail, 12 other newly elected Punjab MPs take oath

Tarsem Singh, the radical preacher’s father, said the family has no information on the government’s response to the letter.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was present in the Lok Sabha during the oath-taking ceremony. Sukhjinder Randhawa was the first to take the oath, followed by GS Aujla. After that Protem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab called the name of Amritpal Singh, but he was not present. Three ruling party MPs, who took the oath of office and secrecy, are — Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur, Malvinder Singh Kang from Anandpur Sahib and Dr Raj Kumar Chabewal from Hoshairpur.

Besides Channi, the Congress MPs included Amrinder Singh Raja Warring from Ludhiana, Dr Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib, Dr Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala, Sher Singh Ghubaya from Ferozpur, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa from Gurdaspur and GS Aujla from Amritsar.

Lone SAD MP from Bhatinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Independent MP from Faridkot Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, who is the son of the assassin of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, also took the oath.

Mann congratulated all newly elected MPs from Punjab who took the oath of office for officially becoming MPs.

Talking to mediapersons outside Parliament, Mann said, “All our three MPs are very experienced and intelligent. They are well aware of the issues concerning Punjab. They know how to get things done.”

Hayer, a two-time MLA, was a minister holding several portfolios in the incumbent Punjab government.

Kang has been active in politics for a long. He has been into social work since student politics years and has been serving as the chief spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab for the past two years.

Chabbewal, also a two-time MLA, has done much work for the common people and the poor in his area.

Mann said, “All three AAP MPs will raise their voice for Punjab’s rights and put forth the issues of the common people of the state in parliament. Our MPs will also raise the issue of Punjab’s pending funds in parliament and pressure the Centre to release the fund soon.”

Amritpal had contested the Lok Sabha elections as an independent and polled 4,04,430 votes. He defeated Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1,97,120 votes.

Recently, his detention was extended by a year from April 23. The Punjab government had issued the extension order on June 3, a day before the Lok Sabha election results came out.

Amritpal, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Rode village in Punjab’s Moga on April 23 last year following an over a month-long manhunt.

The radical leader had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, switching vehicles and changing appearances. Singh and his associates were booked in several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attacking police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.

With PTI Inputs