Sukhbir Singh Badal visits Ludhiana, meets SAD halka in-charges

Tribune News Service

Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, April 19

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal visited the city today and kept his visit low profile but during his short stint here, he met almost all prominent local leaders of the party.

One of the party leaders said by April 22, the name of the SAD candidate to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Ludhiana parliamentary seat will be announced. “There was a divided opinion of leaders. Suggestions were received and pros and cons were discussed with the party president by all those present. Now, the final decision will be made by the party chief along with two other seats — Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur,” the Akali leader said.

Sources said the leaders who met Sukhbir today at a hotel in the Jamalpur area included Hira Singh Gabria, Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Vipan Kaka Sood, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Harish Rai Dhanda, RD Sharma, Parupkar Singh Ghuman, Manpreet Singh Ayali and SR Kler.

Speculations were rife that the SAD may field some female celebrity from Ludhiana to give a tough competition to BJP candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu but the same did not materialise, said another party leader.

“If the candidate will be selected from the Ramgarhia community, it can be Hira Singh Gabria and in case it’s not from the community, Ranjit Singh Dhillon’s name is also doing the rounds,” the leader said.

Interestingly, not all these leaders met the party president together.

“Sukhbir held brief meetings with all prominent leaders separately at a hotel. He reached here around 2 pm and stayed for approximately two-and-a-half hours. We have given honest opinion about the leaders and now, the president has to take a call,” said another Akali leader.

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