AAP sacks Khaira, Cheema is new leader of opposition
Dirba MLA is 3rd LoP in Punjab House in 16 months
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday removed its firebrand Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira from the post of leader of opposition (LoP) in Punjab assembly.
The party named first-time MLA from Dirba Harpal Singh Cheema, a Dalit face, as the new leader of the AAP legislature party. Khaira was appointed LoP in July last year.
The change was announced by Delhi deputy CM and in-charge of Punjab affairs Manish Sisodia on Twitter. “AAP has decided to change its leader of opposition in Punjab. Harpal Singh Cheema, MLA, Dirba constituency, shall be leader of opposition in Punjab assembly,” he tweeted.
Sisodia followed it up with another tweet on the new LoP’s Dalit credentials, expressing confidence that Cheema will emerge as a strong Dalit leader and become a voice of all marginalised communities of Punjab. He is the third leader of the AAP legislature party in Punjab in the last 16 months.
AAP’s national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to the speaker of Punjab assembly, requesting him to appoint Cheema as the leader of opposition. Khaira, reacting to the announcement, said he discharged his duty with utmost sincerity, dedication and fearlessness. The AAP did not give any reason for his removal or details of the process followed. Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan said the decision was taken in a meeting of party legislators in the national capital. “Those who were not present conveyed their consent over phone,” he told HT, expressing inability to give the number of MLAs present. AAP legislature party deputy leader Sarvjit Kaur Manuke said she got a call from a central leader and agreed to go with the party’s decision.
AAP state unit co-president Balbir Singh, whom Khaira recently accused of hatching a plot for his removal from the post, said the decision was taken by the party MLAs from the state. “Since I am not a legislator, I was not present and had no inkling,” he said, welcoming the decision. Most other party leaders remained mum or kept their phones switched off. Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) chief Simarjeet Bains, a one-time alliance partner, said Khaira’s sacking was a mistake. “Khaira had brought new energy to the party, but did not deserve to be treated in this shabby manner,” he said.
Though Khaira’s ties with the party leadership were uneasy ever since he publicly slammed Kejriwal for his apology to SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia to settle a drug allegation-related defamation case, his removal came just days after he accused Balbir Singh of levelling false allegations of accepting cash from party workers. A combative politician, Khaira, who had joined the AAP from the Congress in 2015, remained LoP for one year and his stint was marked by controversies. His purported statement on ‘Referendum 2020’, a movement initiated by US-based advocacy group Sikhs for Justice for a separate Sikh state, had also earned the ire of the top leaders last month. While Kejriwal refused to meet Khaira, Sisodia rebuked him.
Meanwhile, Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu resigned as spokesperson of the AAP legislature party. He was appointed by Khaira three weeks ago. “I have resigned so that the new LoP can appoint his own team,” he said.
If speaking the truth and espousing the cause of Punjab, Punjabis and Sikhs cost me LoP, I’m prepared to let go 100 such positions. Those at the helm have done what CongSADBJP wanted (sic).
SUKHSPAL SINGH KHAIRA, senior AAP leader, on Twitter
CHANDIGARH: The sacking of firebrand Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the post of leader of opposition in Punjab assembly appears set to throw the party into fresh turmoil.
His removal is being widely seen as the party leadership’s move to assert its authority in the faction-ridden state unit that has hurtled from crisis to crisis, but two-time legislator Khaira is not known to take things lying down. He instantly set the tone with his tweet after the news of his removal broke by terming it fallout of speaking the truth and espousing the cause of Punjab, Punjabis and Sikhs. He further said that those at the helm did what the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), rivals of the AAP in Punjab, wanted. He clearly appears to be preparing the pitch for another day.
RUN-INS WITH CENTRAL, STATE LEADERS
The response is characteristic of Khaira’s adversarial style of politics that he has often demonstrated in his no-holds-barred attacks on the Congress and the SAD as leader of opposition in the past one year.
It did make him the voice of the AAP on all major issues in the state in the past one year and won support of several party MLAs and one-time alliance partner Lok Insaaf Party (LIP).
At the same time, his frequent run-ins with the party’s central and state leadership, particularly his open defiance after Delhi chief minister and national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s apology to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia in March in a drug charge-related defamation case, rubbed many the wrong way.
While there was no love lost between him and former state chief and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, as he often ventured into the state unit leadership’ domain, Khaira went public against the incumbent state co-president Dr Balbir Singh last week, demanding action for “hatching a conspiracy” for his removal, and then called a meeting of party MLAs on the matter.
“It was only a matter of time after the March 16 meeting of MLAs (after Kejriwal’s apology to Majithia) in which some of them had even talked of splitting the party in the state. Khaira failed to read the signals and remained on the offensive. The high command had made its mind a few weeks ago. And Tuesday’s meeting was apparently the last straw,” said a party leader, requesting anonymity.
His successor, Harpal Singh Cheema, is not just a close confidant of Mann, but also keeps a low profile. Cheema’s appointment is being seen as the party’s tilt towards Mann, arguably its most popular face in the state, before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
STINT MARKED BY CONTROVERSIES
Besides the standoff over Kejriwal’s apology, Khaira had a series of ups and downs during his one-year tenure. Before he could even make his first appearance in the assembly as the leader of opposition, there was a controversy regarding his alleged dealings with a drug smuggler, providing ammunition to the Congress and the SAD against him.
He was again in the eye of the storm when he lost his cool in the House on November 20, and hit out at chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, using intemperate language and taking swipes at his private life.
Last month, his purported statement on “Referendum 2020”, a movement initiated by US-based advocacy group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) for a separate Sikh state, again landed the party in a mess, reviving memories of its alleged dalliance with radicals in the run-up to the assembly polls last year.
As Balbir was trying to put the organisational set-up in order with the backing of the central leaders, this fresh controversy arose, prompting the leadership to step in.
Not many party MLAs, including those who are always by his side, have spoken out in his favour so far.
While Khaira may appear to be in a corner, just the way it happened in the Congress (his erstwhile party) at one stage, he is definitely not out, and is not going to sit quiet.
KHAIRA’S REPLACEMENT CHEEMA IS CLOSE TO BHAGWANT MANN, AND KEEPS A LOW PROFILE. HIS APPOINTMENT IS BEING SEEN AS PARTY’S TILT TOWARDS MANN