Hours after expulsion from Akali Dal, ex-Punjab speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon’s son joins BJP

Ravi Karan is thus believed to have influence in both the Assembly segments.

“My father used to contest from Fatehgarh Churian and I also used to work in that area a lot, but despite that the Akali Dal gave me the ticket from Dera Baba Nanak in 2022. I lost the election to the Congress’s Sukhjinder Randhawa by a thin margin despite the huge AAP wave in the state. From time to time, I have raised my voice over injustice. Only because of this was I expelled from the party. I have joined the BJP because of the vision of PM Narendra Modi and will work hard for the party,” he said.

BJP state president Sunil Jakhar was present on the occasion. Ravi Karan accused SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia of ruining the political careers of many people in the Majha area who pointed out the party’s faults.

Ravi Karan, who joined the SAD in 1992, had also headed the Youth Akali Dal. On Wednesday evening, SAD spokesperson and Gurdaspur candidate Daljeet Singh Cheema posted on the X website, “SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal expelled Dera Baba Nanak assembly incharge Ravikaran Singh Kahlon from primary membership of the party for anti-party activities & for backstabbing the party. Badal said that indiscipline will not be tolerated at any cost.”

Sukhjinder Randhawa, who defeated Ravi Karan in 2022, is the Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate in Gurdaspur, where the AAP has fielded Amansher Singh Kalsi. The BJP is betting on its former MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu after dropping Sunny Deol, who in 2019 routed Sunil Jakhar, then with the Congress.

Gurdaspur is considered to be a BJP stronghold as the party had contested this seat even when it was an ally of the SAD. The late Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna won this Lok Sabha seat on the BJP ticket in 1998, 1999 and 2004. He lost to the Congress’s Partap Singh Bajwa in 2009 but bounced back in 2014. However, after the death of Vinod Khanna, Sunil Jakhar won the seat for the Congress in a 2017 bypoll. In 2019 Bollywood actor Sunny Deol defeated Jakhar.

Punjab will vote on June 1 in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

BJP leader accuses Arvind Kejriwal of double standards

BJP national general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who came to Chandigarh to welcome Ravi Karan to the party, targeted AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.

“Kejriwal is coming to Punjab on Thursday evening and here he will talk against the Congress and after reaching Delhi, he will campaign for the Congress. This is his character and people too need to understand his double standards,” the BJP leader said.

Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister, is out on bail in the excise policy case till June 1.

More people join BJP

Yadwinder Singh Manochahal, senior vice-president of the Youth Akali Dal; Parmeet Singh Bedi, president of the Dera Baba Nanak municipal committee; Gurdev Singh, former vice-chairman of the Dera Baba Nanak market committee; Gagandeep Singh and Jagdeep Singh Rinku, both general secretaries of the Youth Akali Dal; Baljeet Singh Raju, general secretary for Amritsar Urban; Harmanpreet Singh Kalanaur, vice-president of the Youth Akali Dal; and Baljit Singh Ratta also joined the BJP

A few Congress leaders from Ludhiana have also joined the BJP. They are Karan Warring, former vice-chairman of the Punjab Energy Development Authority; Sandeep Sekhon, former NSUI president in Ludhiana; Harman Kular, former chairman of the block samiti in Pakhowal; Simran Grewal; and former Youth Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Rauni.