'AAP rebels in Punjab may launch new party next month'

Suspended AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and seven other rebels may launch a new party next month, the Punjab legislator indicated Tuesday.

Khaira, suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi and Simarjit Singh Bains, who leads AAP ally Lok Insaaf Party, said they will form a new political party to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls if they get the people's mandate.

They will seek this mandate at a meeting in Patiala next month, a press release said.

Khaira and seven other Aam Aadmi Party MLAs rebelled in July when the party replaced him as Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly.

In the next few weeks, the eight rebels, within the 20-MLA group of AAP members in the House, held parallel meetings and passed resolutions that challenged the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

Bholath MLA Khaira and Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu were then suspended from the party.

Khaira said they will start an eight-day long 'Insaaf' march from December 8 to seek justice in cases related to the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015.

The 180-km long march from Talwandi Sabo will end in a huge public meeting in Patiala on December 16, he said.

They will seek a mandate then from the people to form a third alternative in Punjab to contest the Lok Sabha elections, Khaira said.

He said if the people gave their go-ahead, they would form a new party and forge a "grand alliance" with like-minded parties and individuals.

The Insaaf Party headed by Bains has two MLAs in the assembly.

Khaira also lashed at Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, accusing him of denying justice in the sacrilege case and the police firing in Faridkot district in 2015.

Not even a constable has been punished for killing two people in the Behbal Kalan firing, he said.

He claimed the questioning by a special investigation team of Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, whose government was in power in Punjab when the cases took place, was just eyewash.