Former MP Rajdev Khalsa joins AAP

Bathinda: Former MP Rajdev Singh Khalsa on Monday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of party leader H S Phoolka. Khalsa, a known face in Malwa region, was elected as an MP from Sangrur parliamentary constituency in 1989 on the ticket of Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) then headed by Simranjit Singh Mann. The seat is represented in Parliament now by AAP’s Bhagwant Mann.
In July 2015, Khalsa was in news for joining Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, the Sikh wing of RSS.He was appointed in charge of the body for Malwa. However, he had resigned from in April 2016, accusing Sikh Sangat of misusing the name of Sikhs.
On Monday, Phoolka, accompanied by AAP candidate from Barnala Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer and transporter Kala Singh Dhillon, reached the residence of Khalsa in the afternoon and welcomed him into AAP fold by offering him party scarf.
Phoolka said, “With the entry of Khalsa, our party will be strengthened in the Barnala area. The party will benefit from the vast experience of Khalsa and we are confident of defeating SAD and the Congress candidates.”
Rajdev (65), an advocate from Barnala, announced to wholeheartedly work for AAP and assured all help to party’s candidate Meet Hayer. Speaking on the occasion, Khalsa lambasted incumbent SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress.
He said, “All these parties had been befooling people of Punjab by making false promises. No party has been able to ensure any development in the state and provide transparent governance. Only hope is AAP, as it was born from a revolution.”
Khalsa said the demonetisation move of the Narendra Modi government had wreaked havoc and people were facing it hard to withdraw their own money from the banks. “It seems the entire nation is standing in queues outside banks,” he said.
SAD fling
Interestingly, In January 2012, Rajdev Singh Khalsa was also inducted into the Shiromani Akali Dal and immediately made part of the party’s apex body political affairs committee (PAC). Khaslsa was admitted into the party at his Barnala residence by SAD secretary general and former union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on January 8, 2012. Though he never quit the party formally, he also never became active in SAD. What’s more, he was again in news in August 2014, when he offered to fight the case of Vikram Kumar, who was booked for hurling shoe at CM Parkash Singh Badal, for free.