New Delhi: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday (March 22) slammed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over its five candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, saying that barring former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, the rest of the nominations are one. . “The Betrayal of Punjab”.
AAP has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, IIT Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora for the March 31 Rajya Sabha elections. All these candidates filed their nomination papers in the Punjab Assembly Complex in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The tenure of five Rajya Sabha members from Punjab, including Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD), Pratap Singh Bajwa (Congress), Shwet Malik (BJP), Naresh Gujral (SAD) and Shamsher Singh Dullo (Congress), will end on April 9.
Earlier on Monday, the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had targeted the AAP over its nomination to the Upper House.
Describing the nomination as disappointing, Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira had said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has a clear seal on the five nominations.
Khaira had said that he hoped that CM Bhagwant Mann would ensure some prominent personalities of Punjab who could raise the issues of the state in the Rajya Sabha. He said that it appeared that Mann had “completely surrendered” to the interests of Punjab.