Angered at being denied a SAD ticket from Atam Nagar,Youth Akali Dal president Simarjeet Singh Bains on Sunday announced that he will contest the seat as an Independent,which,in effect,will pit him against his partys cabinet minister,Hira Singh Gabria. People of this area want me to contest elections and a new historic chapter will be written this time. They dont want a corrupt candidate once again from this area who has multiplied his property manifold in the past 5 years. Even I dont want the Congress to win this seat,so I decided to contest as an independent, Bains said while defending his decision. The Youth Akali chief had been demanding the Atam Nagar ticket but the SAD allotted it to cabinet minister Hira Singh Gabria,while the Ludhiana South seat has been handed to Balwinder Singh Bains Simarjeets brother. Bains,however,said he will not quit the party. I have not yet left the SAD and will continue to support candidates in other constituencies. In the SGPC elections when my brother was contesting elections from Atam Nagar,Gabria and Ludhiana Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura openly opposed my brother and even attended political functions of rival candidate Surinder Riat. When the party did not take any action on them,then why any action on me now. Despite the opposition,my brother won the SGPC polls with a huge margin and a new chapter will be written even now, he added. Bains and 22 Akali Ludhiana Municipal Corporation councillors have had differences with the mayor and Gabria. Over time,however,the number of councillors supporting Bains has reduced by half,but the differences continued to remain. When contacted,Gabria,said he will comment only after reading the reports that have come out in the media.
