AAP MLA’s father with multiple police cases is BSP’s bet from Ferozepur

According to information, Surinder Kamboj has as many as 14 cases of extortion, fraud, etc registered against him.

He was arrested in an alleged extortion case in Jalalabad on April 21 last year and came out on bail in October. In 2007, he was booked by the Chandigarh Police in an alleged flesh trade racket and for “vehicle thefts.

Garhi told The Indian Express, “AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal also has cases registered against him and is behind bars. We gave a ticket to Surinder Kamboj because he has not been convicted in any of these cases.”

The BSP, which is going solo in Punjab in the Lok Sabha elections, has so far announced two candidates — Rakesh Kumar from Hoshiarpur and Surinder Kamboj from Ferozepur. In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BSP allied with the Akali Dal.

“The BSP will contest all seats,” Garhi added.

BSP in-charge for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh Randhir Singh Beniwal said the party would soon name its candidates for the remaining seats in Punjab.

Reacting to his father’s candidature, the AAP MLA reiterated, “I have no connection with my father, so I cannot comment on his political moves.”

The AAP MLA had last year announced that he had no connection with his father and he wasn’t responsible for his father’s actions. He has said on several occasions that his father and he stay separately. Goldy also said that “the AAP practices zero tolerance against corruption, and thus action should be taken against all accused persons as per the law”.

Surinder Kamboj, meanwhile, said, “My political journey is of four decades. ”

Earlier, Surinder Kamboj and his son Goldy were associated with the Congress.

Surinder was the chairman of Land Mortgage Bank in Jalalaabad and a member of the district grievances redressal committee in Fazilka.

Goldy Kamboj, a national-level Youth Congress leader, had left the Congress in September 2019 after the party denied him a ticket to contest the Jalalabad Assembly bypoll. He joined the AAP in February 2020.

Jagdeep rose to prominence in the 2022 Assembly elections after defeating SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal by a margin of more than 30,000 votes from Jalalabad.

Jagdeep recently claimed that he had calls from an international number where an “unidentified caller offered him Rs 25 crore for joining the BJP”. Following this, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar demanded an inquiry by the ED into his claim.

Jagdeep also got mired in controversy over the cancellation of the No Objection Certificate (NOC) of a private school backed by SAD leader Vardev Singh Mann in Jalalabad.

The Jalalabad constituency has more than 15 lakh voters, of which nearly 3 lakh belong to the Kamboj community.

Surinder Kamboj believes his community will support him, besides other voters. Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1.