LS polls: 3 turncoats and former diplomat in BJP's first list for Punjab
BJP on Saturday released its first list of six candidates for Punjab, fielding three turncoats Preneet Kaur, Sushil Kumar Rinku and Ravneet Singh Bittu, and former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Besides, the saffron party also fielded singer and MP from North West Delhi Hans Raj Hans and former MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu.
According to the list, Preneet Kaur, who is a suspended Congress MP from Patiala, has been named as candidate from the same seat. Four-time MP and former Union minister Kaur joined the BJP this month.
Kaur was suspended by the Congress in February last year soon after her husband, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, joined the BJP.
Kaur will be facing AAP candidate Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala seat. The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal are yet to announce their candidates from Patiala.
As expected the BJP fielded sitting AAP's lone MP Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar seat, four days after he joined the saffron party in Delhi.
Rinku had been named the candidate by the AAP but he quit the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit in less than a year after joining it.
Former Congress MLA Rinku had joined the AAP on April 5 last year in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann in Jalandhar.
Rinku was fielded from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat in the by-election and won it after defeating Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by a margin of 58,691 votes.
The BJP fielded three-time MP Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana seat. Bittu was the third
