Capt Kanwaljit’s daughter joins Congress

CHANDIGARH: In a major setback to the ruling Shiromani Akali DalManpreet Kaur Dolly, the daughter of late Akali stalwart CaptKanwaljit Singh joined the Congress today in presence of the PunjabCongress President Capt Amarinder Singh, Minister of State forExternal Affairs Ms Perneet Kaur and Congress Legislative Party leaderSunil Jakhar, alongwith hundreds of her supporters and Akali workers.Welcoming her into the Congress Capt Amarinder and Ms Perneet Kaursaid, Ms Dolly had actually inherited the political legacy of her latefather Capt Kanwaljit who was a mass leader in his area and a seasoned

Akali politician. They said, she had great future in the Congress asshe was well qualified, competent and hardworking.Mr Perneet Kaur pointed out, she had contested the last assemblyelection as an independent candidate from Dera Bassi assembly segmentand got over ten thousand votes which was no small achievement.Talking to reporters, Ms Dolly said, she liked and respected thepolicies of the Congress and had made her mind to join the party longtime back. She said, the Congress worked in a democratic manner andrecognised and acknowledged the contribution of the women inparticular. She said, she was feeling glad to have joined the party inpresence of Capt Amarinder and Ms Perneet Kaur.Assuring the party leadership that she will work hard and come up bestto their expectations, Ms Dolly said, she will ensure that Ms PerneetKaur, who is also the local member parliament, will win with a hugemargin from the Dera Bassi assembly segment.However, Ms Dolly did not compromise and wanted to retain the area asher father had worked hard and represented Banur, rechristened lateras Dera Bassi in the delimitation, three times. Since the familydidn’t get the nomination, she decided to contest independently andlost. Her joining the Congress will certainly cause substantial damageto the Akali Dal in the area as late Capt Kanwaljit commanded

extensive support in the area.Senior party leaders and MLAs including Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa,

Arvind Khanna, Rana KP Singh, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Sadhu SinghDharamsot, Chiranji Lal Garg and others were also present on theoccasion.