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Gagan K Teja
Tribune News Service
Patiala, November 25
A day after the announcement of his ticket from the high-profile Patiala (Urban) seat against Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Capt Amarinder Singh, Dr Balbir Singh today dared the PPCC chief to save his seat. He also advised him to “work harder to save his home constituency rather than focusing on Punjab.”
Dr Balbir said it was an honour for him that party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal showed faith in him and gave
him an opportunity to compete against
Capt Amarinder Singh who is the most powerful candidate.
“AAP has already defeated ‘maharani’ Preneet Kaur in the past and now it was the turn of the ‘maharaja’. Patiala people will dethrone the royals for once and all and prove that the common man were the supreme power,” he said.
Dr Balbir, who is the Patiala zone coordinator and state spokespersons for AAP Punjab, is currently serving as the party vice-president and his candidature has certainly turned a few brows. As per reports, Balbir had shown interest in contesting from the Sanour Assembly segment and the applicants from Sanour had even approached the party high command against his candidature claiming that Balbir was an outsider. Later, the situation took another turn with Bibi Kuldeep Kaur Tohra, daughter of Akali stalwart Gurcharan Singh Tohra, joining AAP. She was announced as the party candidate from Sanour.
However, the announcement of Dr Balbir’s name against Capt Amarinder Singh has once again brought him in the limelight and Dr Balbir promises to make going tough for the Punjab Congress chief.
Having participated in the JP Movement and Anna Andolan, Dr Balbir had entered the political arena for the first time by joining AAP. He played an instrumental role in the victory of Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi during the 2014 parliamentary polls as the chief campaign manager and election agent.
About Balbir Singh
Dr Balbir Singh was a frontrunner for the party ticket for the Patiala (Urban) bypoll when Capt Amarinder Singh resigned as the MLA to contest against Arun Jaitley from Amritsar, but was denied the ticket. The party had almost finalised Balbir Singh’s name for the ticket, but his in-laws met Arvind Kejriwal and exhorted him not to give the ticket to Balbir Singh following some family dispute. In the wake of the civil suit filed in the case, the party picked up Harjit Singh Adaltiwala instead of Dr Balbir Singh. However, he is being seen as a very light-weight candidate by Congress leaders. They say that Dr Balbir’s candidature was a mockery.
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