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Nikhil Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, January 16
Feeling betrayed by the SAD, AAP and Lok Insaaf Party leaders, Harbans Singh Lotey (43), a local businessman decided to contest the election from the Ludhiana (South) constituency on All India Trinamool Congress ticket. He had recently joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the presence of party’s state chief Jagmeet Brar.
Harbans belongs to the Ramgarhia community, which has a large numbers of voters in the South constituency. He was the former vice-president of the Trade Transport and Industry Cell of AAP.
An industrialist by profession, Lotey had started his political career after joining SAD (Amritsar) of Simranjit Mann. He was reportedly close to Bains brothers.
“I joined SAD in 2005 along with Bains brothers and worked for the party honestly for a long time. Despite pulling crowd in all rallies of SAD, the party did not mete out justice with me. I was the frontrunner for the ticket in the MC elections in Ward No. 71 from SAD, but my ticket was cancelled by the party at the eleventh hour. Still I contested the election as an Independent candidate and lost, still I got a huge share of votes. Even the Bains brothers to whom I was loyal did not come to my rescue,” he recalled.
Considering AAP as a genuine party, he joined it in 2014 and offered his services to the party. However, at the end of the day, he realised that the party was not loyal to him.”
“This time, I was expecting to get the ticket from the South constituency, but the party made alliance with Lok Insaaf Party of AAP and in seat-sharing arrangement, the ticket went to Bains brothers,” he said.
Now, he joined TMC only because of Jagmeet Brar, whom he considers as a man of words. “The other parties will surely feel the punch,” he said.
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Harbans Singh Lotey (43)
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