Dissident AAP MLA joins Congress in Punjab

Dissident AAP legislator Nazar Singh Manshahia on Thursday joined the Congress in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here.

The Mansa assembly seat is part of the Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency.

The chief minister said the joining of the Mansa legislator would further strengthen the Congress.

He said the like-minded people from other parties, who had the interest of the state-at-heart, were joining the Congress in Punjab in large numbers.

It was a clear sign of complete "disillusionment" within the AAP,he further claimed.

Manshahia, the 56-year-old legislator, was part of the group of rebel AAP MLAs who had aligned with Sukhpal Singh Khaira after he was removed unceremoniously from the post of the Leader of Opposition of Punjab Assembly last year.

Manshahia, who had taken a premature retirement from the Punjab Pollution Control Board in 2015 after serving as senior environmental engineer in the department, said he wanted to serve the people of Punjab, which he felt the Congress was best equipped to do.

The Aam Aadmi Party had completely lost the narrative in Punjab, with no positively agenda or ideology to guide it, said Manshahia,who became a legislator for the first time in2017.

He was a Member of House Committee and Committee on Farmers Suicides and Farm Labourers of Punjab Vidhan Sabha (2017-18).

He is currently a Member of Committee on Government Assurances of Punjab Vidhan Sabha (2018-19).