Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit) leader Karan Singh DTO and his wife — former MLA Varinder Kaur Loomba — joined state’s ruling AAP in Patran on Wednesday.
They joined the party in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
This comes a month after former Punjab minister and senior SAD (Punar Surjit) leader Surjit Singh Rakhra joined AAP.
Mann had reached the Patran function after launching his government’s flagship Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojana in Dhuri, the CM’s Assembly constituency.
The Chief Minister used the occasion to debunk the controversy surrounding a video in which he was allegedly seen disrespecting the Gurus. Mann reiterated that an impersonator was used for this heinous act.
He said huge gatherings at party events and the joining of leaders from the other parties proved that people rejected the controversy hatched against him.
He said the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP had “collectively planned to discredit him” but failed badly.
The induction of DTO and his wife is being viewed as the second major political gain for AAP in the region after Rakhra, who enjoys considerable influence in the area, joined the ruling party.
Sources said Rakhra played a key role in persuading DTO to join AAP.
