Friends turn foe: Once right-hand man of Bains, Karwal to contest elections against him

Friday, 16/12/2016

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LUDHIANA:Once a right-hand man of firebrand leader Simarjit Singh Bains, SAD councillor and a turncoat leader Kamaljeet Singh Karwal is likely to contest elections against Bains, as he is all set to join Congress shortly.

Karwal met state Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh at New Delhi, after which the latter made an announcement that Karwal will soon join the party. Congress is likely to field Karwal from Atam Nagar constituency, which is a stronghold of Bains.

Till recently, Congress was clueless regarding which candidate to field from Atam Nagar as all applicants from the area, including Kulwant Sidhu, KK Bawa and Parvinder Singh Lapran, were not considered a match to Bains. However, Captain had hinted in the past that he will provide Bawa an opportunity.

Being a close associate of Bains brothers, Karwal is considered privy to all their loopholes and thus is the best bet for the Congress party, in this area.

Karwal, who contested 2012 MC polls on SAD symbol, left the party after sometime after the Bains brothers left the party. Thereafter, he joined SAD again in January 2015 in the presence of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Interestingly, in 2009, Karwal and Simarjit had allegedly beaten up, the then tehsildar GS Benipal.

Following this, both 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 many Sections of the Arms Act. They even remained in jail for some time.

Earlier in 2014, the Supreme Court handed the matter over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the investigation has been pending since then.

Karwal was re-elected as the councillor from ward number 45 in 2012. Sources said that the Congress leaders aspiring to contest from Atam Nagar were lobbying in Delhi on Thursday, trying to persuade Captain Amarinder Singh, not to allot a ticket to Karwal for the constituency.

Kamaljit Karwal said that SAD has not fielded a capable candidate from Atam Nagar constituency due to which he decided to join the Congress party. “I will officially join the party in the coming days,” he said.

SAD has fielded city industrialist Gumeet Singh Kular from Atam Nagar who has no political background and is considered to be a weak candidate in front of Simarjit Singh Bains.