Bains’ supporter Karwal joins SAD

Attempt to murder accused and ward number 45 councillor Kamaljeet Singh Karwal joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the presence of party president and Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday.

Once the right hand of independent MLA Simarjit Singh Bains, Karwal withdrew his allegiance claiming he could not trust the Bains brothers anymore.

He alleged that the Bains brothers had cheated him, thus he had decided to join the SAD with an aim to carry out development works and redress residents’ and industry’s problems.

“I had supported the Bains brothers in Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Now, if I am leaving their group, there is a reason,” he added.

“Rumours have it that I have been demanding a higher designation. But I never placed such a demand. I also want to clear the air that I have not demanded any designation in SAD, and have not placed any condition before joining the party. I wanted to do development works, and that would be possible only by joining the ruling party,” he added.

On the occasion, Sukhbir said they had always had cordial relations with brothers Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, but they repeatedly placed conditions:

“We had offered them a ticket during the Vidhan Sabha elections, but they demanded two. On not getting those, they parted ways. After becoming MLAs, they contacted us again seeking high designations in the government.”

It is pertinent to mention here that after being elected as councillor from ward number 66 in the 2007 polls, Karwal and Simarjit had allegedly beat up the then tehsildar GS Benipal in 2009.

Following this, Karwal and Simarjit were booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (manhandling public servants), 332 (deter public servant from official duty), 394 (causing hurt in committing robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of Arms Act.
They both remained in jail for some time.

Karwal was re-elected as councillor from ward number 45 in 2012. Earlier in 2014, the Supreme Cour t handed the matter over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the investigation has been pending since.

Interestingly, though Sukhbir reached Ludhiana especially for the occasion, several senior SAD leaders, including Hira Singh Gabria, were missing.