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In a major setback to Shiromani Akali Dal, the party's candidate from Chandigarh, Hardeep Singh resigned from the party on Monday.
Expressing disappointment, he remarked, "Party's callous attitude towards me, Chandigarh and our unit left me with no option other than leaving the party." "We were promised that the party would handle the poll campaign but today the candidates have been announced 15-18 days back and no party leader came here to speak to us," he added. He further stated that he was from a financially weak family, adding, he said, "I am from a poor family. I don't have a father or any elder brother. Sukhbir Badal only talks about 13 seats but not the 14th one." He refuted when asked if he would join any other party. "I got lucrative offers from the other parties but I always gave preference to my mother's party," said Hardeep. Notably, in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Bittu defeated Simarjeet Singh Bains from the Lok Insaaf Party by 76,372 votes. In 2014, he defeated the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Harvinder Singh Phoolka with a margin of 19,709 votes. In Punjab, the Congress that is going solo in the general elections has fielded Gurjeet Singh Aujla from the Amritsar seat, Amar Singh from Fathgarh Sahib, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu from Bhatinda, Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Sangrur, and Dharamvir Gandhi from Patiala. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the INC-led UPA alliance won eight seats, while the NDA secured four. Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will take place in the last phase on June 1. (ANI)
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