Eyeing Congress ticket, SAD appointee on Punjab info panel quits
Saturday, 06/02/2016
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CHANDIGARH: Politician-turned-RTI commissioner-turnedpolitician. Appointed by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government as state information commissioner, Harinder Pal Singh Mann, better known as Harry Mann, has changed many political affiliations. He resigned on Friday in a bid to seek the Congress ticket for the 2017 assembly polls from the Samana seat in Patiala district.
With a year to go for his retirement, Mann (59) submitted his resignation to Punjab governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, citing personal reasons, after his move to join the Congress was finalised. Mann had been placated by SAD president Sukhbir Badal with the information commissioner’s post after he was denied the ticket to contest from Samana in the 2012 assembly polls and later the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Patiala. Appointed in February 2012, he was due to retire on February 14, 2017.
Though Mann was not willing to reveal his plans, he hinted at warming up to the Congress by saying that promises made to him by the SAD were not met. “In the 2012 assembly polls, (cabinet minister) Surjit Singh Rakhra was given the SAD ticket and I was told to help him on the promise of being chosen as the party candidate from the Patiala Lok Sabha seat in 2014. However, the SAD gave the ticket to Deepinder Singh Dhillon. Samana is my stronghold, but chief minister Parkash Singh Badal doesn’t want Rakhra to be displaced from the constituency. I want to be back in active politics since less than a year is left for the assembly elections,” he told HT. Congress sources confirmed that Mann was in touch with state party chief Captain Amarinder Singh and there is also speculation that he had a meeting with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, though Mann refused to confirm or deny it.
‘HOME ADVANTAGE’
As the information commissioner, Mann was in September last year also given jurisdiction over deputy commissioner (DC)/ subordinate offices of his home district Patiala, a move that had shown how the commission was getting ‘politicised’ ahead of the assembly polls. Before joining hands with the Akalis, Mann had a long innings in the Congress as the general secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress (1980-85), district Congress Committee, Patiala rural, president (1995-97) and chairman of the kisan cell of the party in 1998.
CONG-TURNED-AKALIS ON WAY HOME
A die-hard Congressman for almost 25 years, Mann had contested from Samana assembly constituency in the 2002 polls as a Congress rebel and polled 18,000 votes. The split in Congress votes had helped Akali candidate Surjit Singh Rakhra win. Mann switched over to the SAD in 2007 and was made the party vicepresident with the promise of the ticket from Samana in the 2012 assembly polls. “Rakhra got the ticket and won again in 2012 with my help,” he added.
Mann is one of the many Congress-turned-Akali politicians who are keen to return ‘home’ after being disillusioned with the SAD. Deepinder Dhillon, a former Congress leader and ex-loyalist of Amarinder’s wife and Patiala MLA Preneet Kaur, is eyeing the party ticket from Dera Bassi. Dhillon had contested as a Congress rebel from Dera Bassi in the 2012 polls; in the 2014 LS polls, he lost the Patiala seat on the Akali ticket. Amarinder’s presence at the wedding reception of Deepinder’s son last week sparked speculation that he may hold the Congress hand again.
