AAP dist chief defies party, files papers from Barnala

Bathinda: Despite AAP’s best efforts to dissuade him from contesting against the official party candidate, AAP former district (Barnala) president Gurdeep Singh Baath Friday filed his nomination from Barnala assembly seat as an independent. Hundreds of disgruntled AAP workers gathered at his residence before he submitted his papers and hit out at the party leadership for ignoring them and rewarding only those close to senior party members.
Pledging their support to Baath, the workers announced that they will campaign for him even if the party expels them.
Baath said cabinet minister Aman Arora had visited him earlier to persuade him not to contest the polls. The chairman of Sangrur district planning committee, Gurmail Singh, met him minutes before he filed his nomination and made him talk to CM Bhagwant Mann. Mann asked him not to go ahead, he said, adding that Gurmail is considered close to the CM and was fielded from Sangrur in 2022 parliamentary byelections. Baath said the party organisational secretary, Sandeep Pathak, also got in touch with him.
“I was offered the post of the chairman of Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board, but I flatly declined. As the party ignored merit for nepotism, I decided to raise my voice against it. When the workers stood by me, I decided to go ahead to challenge this practice. My aim is to make the party value the workers,” Baath said. The Barnala assembly seat had fallen vacant after former AAP minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer became an MP from Sangrur.
The candidature of his aide, Harinder Singh Dhaliwal (35), who has studied engineering from Banur’s Swami Vivekananda Institute of Engineering and Technology and been with AAP since 2012, triggered revolt in the AAP unit, with Baath threatening the party to review the choice within 24 hours or face action.