Another party shift for Bir Devinder

After being a Congressman for nearly three decades and an Akali for a short stint, senior Punjab politician and former deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh has now jumped on the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) bandwagon as its Mohali candidate for the January 30 elections.

Bir Devinder, who would be up against Balbir Singh Sidhu of the Congress and Balwant Singh Ramoowalia of the SAD, is banking his hopes on his old ties as a former MLA from Kharar, which included Mohali before delimitation.

The 62-year-old had briefly flirted with the PPP when it was formed last year, then moved away saying party chief Manpreet Singh Badal was not open about the party’s agenda.

“Past is past,” he said on Tuesday. “Let us look to the future now, to change the system, which is the agenda of this party (PPP).” He said the PPP wanted him back and he was here to win the polls.

“I received his (Manpreet’s) call yesterday (Monday) and it was conveyed to me that I am needed in Mohali for the cause of the people,” he said.

Bir Devinder joined the Congress in 1978 and remained in the party till 2007 till he was ignored from the Congress list for the 2007 assembly elections. In 2008, he joined the SAD, a move he now describes as a “blunder”.