Former SAD MLA Jagbir Singh Brar joins AAP ahead of Jalandhar bypoll

The move holds significance as the bypoll, necessitated after the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary during AICC leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, will be held soon.

Jagbir Brar is a close relative of Manpreet Singh Badal, former finance minister and estranged nephew of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. Brar was the first one to quit SAD to join Manpreet Badal’s People’s Party of Punjab before he left it to join the Congress.

A former MLA from Jalandhar (Cantt), Brar was upset with the Congress when the party nominated former hockey player and Olympian Pargat Singh from the constituency ahead of the 2022 elections. He then returned to the SAD.

The ruling AAP has been trying to strengthen its hands in Jalandhar where the Congress has been working hard to win its seat back on a sympathy wave. However, the bypoll is also a do-or-die battle for the ruling AAP that had lost the Sangrur bypoll in Bhagwant Man’s home district. The party would not like to lose another election.

On Saturday, Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal laid the foundation for the Guru Ravidass Bani Adhiyan Centre at Ballan in Jalandhar and handed over a cheque of Rs 25 crore to the Dera Sachkhand Ballan chief as the first instalment to start the work. Mann and Kejriwal also paid obeisance at Dera Sachkhand and sought blessings from its chief Sant Niranjan Dass. Mann has been frequenting Dera Ballan of late.