RAJPURA, Punjab—The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal faced a major setback in its election campaign on January 25 when its senior leader and SGPC executive member Surjit Singh Garhi joined AAP along with large number of his Akali supporters. Surjit Singh Garhi is an SGPC member and currently holds position in 15 member executive committee of the SGPC.
Surjit Singh Garhi has considerable influence in the assembly constituencies of Rajpura and Ghanaur. He had won the last SGPC elections in September 2011 by a margin of 25000 votes. Now, it is being believed that his shifting to the AAP might see the SAD-BJP vote bank drifting away. Garhi has huge following in villages which may change the voting pattern in the constituencies of Ghanaur and Rajpura.
Sikh24 has learnt that the joining of Surjit Singh Garhi was preceded by interesting developments as ruling Akali Dal president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal made an all-out attempt to prevail upon him last evening, but he refused to bulge.
Party insiders informed that Sukhbir Badal first asked Surjit Singh Garhi to meet him in Patiala where he was addressing two public rallies in support of Akali candidates. However, Surjit Singh Garhi said he was out of station. Later, Sukhbir halted at Rajpura and offered to meet Garhi at his residence, but he again stated that he was not in the town.
