Kejri in Punjab today, Sekhwan may join AAP
71-year-old ex-akali minister was one of the veteran leaders who had revolted against Badals-led SAD and formed SAD (Taksali)
GURDASPUR: Former Akali minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan is likely to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in presence of the party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal in Gurdaspur on Thursday.
“Hon’ble chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal will be in Punjab tomorrow and shall visit former cabinet minister jathedar Sewa Singh Sekhwan at his native Sekhwan village in Gurdaspur district (sic.),” Delhi MLA and AAP’S Punjab co-incharge Raghav Chadha said in a tweet on Wednesday.
71-year-old Sekhwan, senior vice-president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Sad-sanyukt), has been keeping a low profile since Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and former MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura joined hands in June. Dhindsa and Brahmpura —Akali stalwarts who parted ways with Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal)— had formed Sad-sanyukt party after dissolving SAD (Taksali) in April.
SAD (Taksali) was formed by Brahmpura, Sekhwan, and former MP Rattan Singh Ajnala in December 2018 after raising a banner of revolt against SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Later, last year, Dhindsa formed SAD (Democratic). Sekhwan was the first to join Dhindsa from the SAD (Taksali) group.
Sekhwan was unreachable while his son Jagroop Singh Sekhwan said, “My father has been keeping ill and Kejriwal is coming to enquire about his health.” Sekhwan’s political adviser Lakhwinder Singh Bhullar said, “Sekhwan has family relations with Kejriwal and the latter is coming to meet him.” A close associate of Sekhwan said it was “quite understandable” that he would join the party and that is “why a party head is coming to meet him”.
Meanwhile, Dhindsa said, “Sekhwan had come to us on his own and now he is going on his own. I just want to say that it is not right for a leader to change parties frequently.”
Brahmpura said, “We have information that he is joining AAP. Firstly, he left SAD (Taksali) and joined Dhindsa. Now, he is leaving Dhindsa and joining AAP. Such people have nothing to do with the people’s welfare and Sikh Panth. He is changing the party just for his political benefit. He can quit even AAP if he has something better on his way.”
The AAP is trying to strengthen itself by embracing panthic faces ahead of 2022 assembly polls. Earlier in June, Kejriwal had inducted former inspector general (IG) of Punjab Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh into the party. Kunwar Vijay opted for premature retirement from his service, soon after the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in April, quashed the probe report filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by him into the Kotkapura firing case.