Ex-MP Dharamvira Gandhi joins Congress, may be fielded in Patiala for Lok Sabha polls
Dharamvira Gandhi, who in 2014 defeated Preneet Kaur, then with Congress, says he wants to defeat her again as she now represents BJP, ‘which is anti-people, anti-country and anti-democracy’.
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Dharamvir Gandhi, Congress (X/@DharamvirGandhi)Former Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, who was jailed during the Emergency and completed his MBBS after his release from jail, joined the Congress in New Delhi on Monday. He is likely to be the party’s Lok Sabha election candidate in Patiala.
“My sense of reasoning, argument says that whatever is going on is wrong,” Gandhi, who defeated Congress candidate Preneet Kaur to win the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Patiala, said while accusing the BJP-led Centre of creating “religious polarisation”.
आने वाला लोकसभा चुनाव बहुत महत्वपूर्ण है, यह देश की दिशा तय करेगा।
ऐसे समय में सही के साथ खड़ा होना बहुत जरूरी है। इसलिए मैं कांग्रेस में शामिल हुआ हूं।
: @DharamvirGandhi जी pic.twitter.com/M7u70qpGe6
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 1, 2024
Gandhi was welcomed to the Congress’s Punjab in-charge, Devender Yadav, in the presence of Congress leader Pawan Khera, state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, among others.
Responding to a question on contesting the election from Patiala, Gandhi said he would defeat Kaur. Addressing her as “Maharani Preneet Kaur”, Gandhi said, “Not because she is Maharani [but] I will defeat her as the candidate of the BJP, which is anti-people, anti-country and anti-democracy.”
“If I get a chance despite health, family and age limitations, I will fight this war,” said the 74-year-old Gandhi as he pointed out that he was “diabetic”, had “cornea disease and had no vision in one eye for the last 15 years”, and had a “stent”.
The BJP has declared four-time MP Kaur as its candidate in Patiala after she joined the saffron party. Her husband and former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh is a member of the BJP’s national executive committee.
The AAP has declared Punjab minister Dr Balbir Singh as its Patiala candidate. In the four-cornered contest, the Shiromani Akali Dal is yet to declare its candidates for the June 1 election.
Gandhi participated in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra last year.
A cardiologist, Dharamvira Gandhi contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as the candidate of the Nawan Punjab Party, which he had floated after falling out with the AAP in 2015, but lost to Kaur.
Addressing the media after joining the Congress, Gandhi said he had got disillusioned with the AAP within a couple of years, even as it took decades for “high command culture and VIP culture” to take root in the Congress and other parties.
“I got elected in 2014 and left AAP in 2015,” said Gandhi, adding that he realised after Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra that “these are not ordinary times, but extraordinary times”.
“2024 is not ordinary times, nor is this an ordinary election,” he said. “I want to be seen on the right side of history in the coming elections. That is why I am with the Congress.”
Gandhi said he was impressed by Rahul Gandhi’s slogans of nafrat ke bazar mein mohabbat ki dukaan and daro mat.
“The Congress does not need me, I need the Congress,” Gandhi said, expressing concerns over “religious polarisation” and attempts to disturb the “social fabric”.
Gandhi also said it was unacceptable that national assets were being sold to the corporate sector. “[There is] complete sellout of the national assets. These are the assets of the public. My father, who was a teacher, had a share in the Railways. There is my share, our share in national assets. The way these are being sold to the corporate sector at throwaway prices is totally unacceptable,” he added.
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