Former Aam Aadmi Party leader and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Tuesday floated a new political outfit — Punjabi Ekta Party — which he said would fight against the Congress, the AAP and the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Mr. Khaira, who had on Sunday resigned from the AAP’s primary membership claiming that the party had deviated from "its ideology and principles'', said here that “the Congress and the Akali Dal were responsible for destroying Punjab in the past two decades”.
“The Punjabi Ekta Party would focus on State-centric issues and will be a regional outfit. Our party will focus on issues of youth, farmers and women,” he said at a press conference. Six rebel AAP MLAs — Kanwar Sandhu, Master Baldev Singh, Pirmal Singh, Nazar Singh Manshahia, Jagdev Singh Kamalu and Jagtar Hissowal — were also present at the event.
Mr. Khaira, who has not yet resigned as MLA, was removed from the post of Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly in July last year by the AAP central leadership and replaced by Harpal Singh Cheema. Later, Mr. Khaira and Mr. Sandhu were suspended from the AAP for anti-party activities.
AAP’s rebel problem
Reacting to the formation of the Punjabi Ekta Party, Mr. Cheema said: "People will not support him [Mr. Khaira]. He was an opportunist, who always thought of his own gains.”
The AAP last year saw a rebellion by eight of its 20 MLAs after Mr. Khaira was removed as the Leader of the Opposition. One of the rebel MLAs, Jai Kishan Singh, however, recently returned to the AAP fold.