CHANDIGARH: Tremors are being felt in the Punjab Congress as businessman-cum-politician Arvind Khanna, Dhuri MLA and close confidant of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, has resigned from the Vidhan Sabha as well from the party, and is likely to join the SAD.
“I have decided to go ahead with my resignation from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and active politics to devote my time to my family and business. I had decided to resign earlier in April last year, but desisted from it due to personal reasons. I have already conveyed my decision to the party and leaders,” said Khanna, who had also served as General Secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).
Khanna was having differences with PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa.
Though Khanna has said that he would not be in active politics, the grapevine in political circles is that he is likely to join the SAD to fight the by-election from Dhuri on an Akali Dal ticket, as he shares a good rapport with SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
If he wins the elections, the ruling Akali Dal will then have 59 MLAs, taking it to the magic number in the 117-member Assembly, and preventing it from collapse in case its coalition partner the BJP withdrew its 12 MLAs.
Khanna, 46, had resigned as MLA last year and posted it on Facebook, but Punjab speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal did not accept it, so he has remained MLA till date.
He had been MLA twice, in 2002 and 2012, on a Congress ticket.
Khanna’s resignation has reduced the number of Congress MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha to 44 and necessitated a by-election to the Dhuri Assembly constituency within the stipulated period of six months.
It is mandatory for a legislator to personally go to the Speaker and confirm his resignation before it is accepted, Vidhan Sabha officials said here.
Earlier, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, sitting Congress MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu had ditched the party for the Akali Dal and was re-elected as MLA from Talwandi Sabo on a SAD ticket.