CHANDIGARH: Former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan will actively campaign for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming MC elections scheduled to be held in December this year.
Sources said that AAP leaders, including party’s Chandigarh affairs in-charge, MLA Jarnail Singh, party’s Chandigarh president Prem Garg, co-in charge Pardeep Chhabra and MC election campaign committee chairman Chander Mukhi Sharma, along with Dhawan, would jointly address a press conference in this regard on Wednesday.
Dhawan had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on AAP ticket. Since then, he had not been active in AAP and was not even attending party programmes.
Sources added that AAP leader Pardeep Chhabra held a meeting with Dhawan on Tuesday, during which Dhawan reportedly agreed to actively campaign for AAP candidates in the upcoming MC polls.
Earlier, there were reports that Dhawan was busy reviving Chandigarh Vikas Manch (CVM) for the MC polls. There were also speculation of him joining hands with the Congress for the MC elections.
In 1989, Dhawan was a Janata Party MP from Chandigarh constituency. He also served as civil aviation minister in the Chandra Shekhar government cabinet. Dhawan has been associated with various political parties such as Samajwadi Party, Indian National Lok Dal, Chandigarh Vikas Manch, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Congress, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He launched the Chandigarh Vikas Manch (CVM) and even won four out of 20 seats in the 1996 MC polls.
Box: Exodus exposes rift
As several Congress leaders are joining AAP in Chandigarh, differences between senior Congress leaders have surfaced. Former Chandigarh Congress president Pardeep Chhabra, who is now AAP’s co-in charge is in touch with Congress leaders and trying to get maximum Congress leaders into the AAP fold. On Monday, a whatsapp chat between Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla and Congress’s leader of opposition in Chandigarh MC, Devinder Babla, went public. In the chat, Babla was raising questions on party leaders leaving Congress and joining AAP.
