Balwinder Kaur, mother of Pro-Khalistani separatist and Waris Punjab De Chief Amritpal Singh, announced on Saturday that her son will contest as an independent candidate in the Lok Sabha elections from the Khadoor Sahib constituency. She also mentioned that there was pressure on him to participate in the elections, and he will now commence his political career from Khadoor Sahib. Amritpal Singh is currently detained in a jail in Dibrugarh, Assam.
“Amritpal Singh has been under pressure to participate in the elections, and he will now begin his political journey from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency. He will not be representing any party in this election. He will be running as an independent candidate,” Balwinder Kaur informed the media. She added that Amritpal is well-versed with the issues of Punjab and will base his campaign on these issues.
This announcement comes a day after Tarsem Singh, Amritpal’s father, dismissed reports of his son contesting the Lok Sabha elections, stating that nothing has been confirmed yet and the decision to run should be made by the locals. Amritpal Singh would only run if the people want him to, he added. “This cannot be our decision. It should be the decision of the locals. He said that he does not have any will to contest but he will if the people want him to…,” Tarsem Singh said, adding, “We don’t want anything, whatever the people want is fine with us…” Tarsem Singh made these comments while speaking to reporters after a brief meeting with his son at Dibrugarh jail on Thursday.
Earlier, Rajdev Singh Khalsa, Amritpal Singh’s legal counsel, had also claimed that he would contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Khadoor Sahib constituency in Punjab. Amritpal Singh was arrested in April last year, and the stringent National Security Act was invoked against him. He and nine of his associates are currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam. Last month, the government extended the NSA against Amritpal and his nine associates.
Singh has been on the run since March 18 last year, the day Punjab Police launched a massive manhunt for him. The crackdown came three weeks after Amritpal’s supporters stormed Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 23, demanding the release of one of his aides, Lovepreet Toofan.
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