Nitin Jain
Ludhiana, March 30
Another party hopper and new face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Kulwant Singh Sidhu (57), breached the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) bastion Atam Nagar, which was represented by the LIP founder Simranjeet Singh Bains (52), since its inception in 2012.
“We will ensure overall development and check illegal drug trade, which is rampant in the area. We will provide better health, education and infrastructure facilities in the segment,” said the Atam Nagar MLA.
Sidhu said lawlessness, drugs and non-development of the area during the past 10 years forced people to bring about change this time. “We will change the system and nobody will be allowed to take law into their own hands,” the Atam Nagar legislator asserted, while adding that he would make sure that the common man faces no problem in getting their work done at any level.
Sidhu won the Atam Nagar (urban seat) by polling 44,601 votes, which were 77.52 per cent of 57,534 votes that the four candidates of the traditional parties, including a two-time MLA and a former MLA, collectively polled.
Except Congress candidate Kamaljit Singh Karwal, who managed to secure his security deposit by securing 28,247 votes, Bains, the SAD’s former MLA Harish Rai Dhanda, the BJP’s nominee Prem Mittal and the SSM candidate Harkirat Singh Rana lost their security deposits.
Sidhu had quit as the Pradesh Congress Committee secretary to join the AAP in August last year. A law graduate from Shia College, Sidhu had joined the Congress in 1992.
Running resorts and marriage palaces, Sidhu had taken up the cudgels against the two-time LIP MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains, while vowing to free Atam Nagar of widespread violence and drugs.
Will curb illegal drug trade
We will ensure overall development and check illegal drug trade, which is rampant in the area. We will provide better health, education and infrastructure. — Kulwant Singh Sidhu, Atam Nagar MLA
Health, education top priorities of Atam Nagar MLA
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