Political Parties In Punjab Reward Turncoats With Assembly Tickets

Sitting MLA from Bathinda Rural Rupinder Kaur Ruby, who joined the Congress last year after quitting the AAP, has been given the ticket for Malout seat.

Several turncoats, cutting across political lines, have been rewarded with tickets by their new parties for the February 20 Assembly polls in Punjab.

Prominent among these include former sports minister and sitting MLA Gurmit Singh Sodhi, MLA Fatehjang Singh Bajwa and former minister Anil Joshi.

Mr Sodhi, who was the sports minister in the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government, later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The saffron party has now fielded the four-time Guruharsahai MLA in Ferozepur district from Ferozepur City Assembly seat.

Another former Congress leader and MLA Fatehjang Singh Bajwa, who switched over to the saffron party, has been fielded from Batala. Bajwa is a sitting legislator from Qadian. The Congress has fielded his elder brother and Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa for the February 20 polls.