Former Punjab Congress chief and ex-MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee on Monday joined the Shiromani Akali Dal and was named its candidate from the Jalandhar (SC) Lok Sabha seat.
Mr Kaypee's move dealt yet another blow to the Congress two days after Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, the wife of late Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary, and its national secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bittu joined the BJP in Delhi.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, who visited Mr Kaypee's residence in Jalandhar, welcomed him into the party fold and named him as the Jalandhar (SC) Lok Sabha seat candidate.
"I extend a heartfelt welcome to former Punjab Pradesh Congress president and former Member of Parliament Mohinder Singh Mr Kaypee into the Shiromani Akali Dal. Kaypeeji, who is also a three-time MLA, is known as an upright man who has made an immense contribution to civil society as well as the Dalit samaj," Mr Badal said.
The SAD chief said the party will be further strengthened in the Doaba region because of Mr Kaypee.
Mr Kaypee said the SAD was a party of Punjab and has always fought to resolve issues pertaining to the state.
He said he quit the Congress over "differences" with the party.
A prominent Dalit leader in the Doaba region, Mr Kaypee was a minister in the 1992 and 1995 Congress governments.
He became an MP from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and unsuccessfully fought from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency in 2014.
Mr Kaypee has been elected a legislator thrice -- 1985, 1992 and 2002 -- from Jalandhar South assembly seat.
In 2017, he lost to SAD candidate Pawan Kumar Tinu from the Adampur assembly seat.
Mr Kaypee has a rich political legacy. His father Darshan Singh Kaypee was a five-time MLA from Jalandhar. He was killed by the militants in 1992.
Mohinder Singh Kaypee's daughter is married to the nephew of senior Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi, who is the party's candidate from Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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