Sister of slain Punjab gangster joins Akali Dal
FAZILKA: Rajdeep Kaur, sister of slain gangster-turned-politician Jaswinder Singh ‘Rocky’, joined Shiromani Akali Dal in Fazilka on Wednesday. Kaur (43), who joined SAD in presence of former deputy CM of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal, said the Akali Dal was “the only party in Punjab that works for people from downtrodden families”. She also received a ‘siropa’ from Badal during her induction at Akali Dal’s “poll khol” rally, aimed at Captain Amarinder Singh government.
FAZILKA:Rajdeep Kaur, 43, sister of slain gangster-politician Jaswinder Singh ‘Rocky’, was inducted into the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) by its president and former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal here on Wednesday.
In last year’s assembly polls, Rajdeep had contested for the Fazilka seat as an independent, and finished a close third behind the winning Congress candidate, Davinder Ghubaya, and the then incumbent MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani of SAD’s ally BJP. Rocky, who was murdered near Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh in 2016, had contested the 2012 election and finished a close second behind Jyani. Rajdeep had tried to secure the Congress ticket that went to Davinder, son of estranged SAD MP Sher Singh Ghubaya. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Rocky had backed Ghubaya, who later fell out with SAD.
In her speech at the SAD’s ‘pol khol’ (‘revelation’) rally, Rajdeep termed the SAD as the only party that works for the downtrodden. A baptised Sikh who dresses in full regalia that carries significant symbolism for the Akali Dal in particular, she received a ‘siropa’ (robe of honour) from Sukhbir as a token of her entry.
She vowed to carry forward the legacy of Rocky. Shot by rivals at 39, he lived a life of crime and infamy. Booked in at least 23 cases, including those of murder, he had been acquitted in 18, and was eyeing a life primarily as a politician for some years, hobnobbing across parties.
Born in a farming family at Chugian Kesar Singh village, he did his schooling from Fazilka and remained unmarried. His tryst with crime, that too within the family, came when he was barely 20, when he got a case registered against his brother, Romi Singh, for firing a shot at their father, Mahinder Singh. Romi remained in jail but was later acquitted. His mother had asked for security due to threat from him, though she settled the dispute before the 2012 polls.
Known for settling local disputes, he had consolidated his Robin Hood image during the 2011 floods in Fazilka’s border villages, by distributing essential commodities much before the state government could come to the people’s aid. In 2013, he was photographed with the then Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde in a delegation with Congressmen at Parliament.
SUKHBIR SAYS PUBLIC AT WAR WITH CONG
Meanwhile, in his speech at the rally, Sukhbir said “Punjabis have declared a war on the Congress government” and against the “raja” (‘king’), CM Capt Amarinder Singh, “for reneging on each and every poll promise”.
He said subsidised food being provided to the poor was stopped. The Congress regime has been rechecking beneficiary lists of the scheme for susidised grains and lentils under Atta Dal Scheme.