Phillaur joins Congress

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 18

Six-time MLA and former minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur joined the Congress today a day after he resigned from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) after he was denied the ticket from his Kartarpur constituency.

The leader claimed that he felt victimised in the Akali Dal for being a Dalit leader and that his former party had been taken over by “dacoits and cheats” and “lost its principles”.

Phillaur, along with his son Damanveer Singh, is facing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) inquiry pertaining to Jagdish Singh Bhola’s synthetic drug racket.

He alleged that Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia had played a role in trying to frame him and his son in the case.

Giving a clean chit to Phillaur in the ED case by saying that his and Damanveer’s names did not figure in three of the chargesheets, PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh described Phillaur as an honest leader with four decades of experience.

“By bringing a Dalit face in Doaba from another party, the state Congress leadership aims to strengthen its position in Doaba, especially in the Phillaur belt where the party was decimated in the previous elections,” said a senior party leader.

Questioning Phillaur’s induction, a section of the state Congress leaders said the party had lost the moral right to question Majithia’s alleged role in the case.

Sadhvi Khosla, whose documentary “Fading Glory” on the Punjab drug scourge is being screened by the Congress, said by inducting Phillaur, the party’s move to create a public perception that it was against the drug menace had lost its integrity.