SAD's Vipan Sood Kaka rejoins BJP

LUDHIANA: A few days after SAD declared Ranjit Singh Dhillon as its candidate for the Ludhiana parliamentary elections, Vipan Sood Kaka, who was declared a party candidate one year back, returned to the Bharatiya Janata Party fold on Thursday in the presence of BJP state president Sunil Jakhar and other leaders in Chandigarh. Sood was initially in the BJP, but when he was denied a ticket in the 2017 assembly election, he joined the Lok Insaaf party and contested from the central constituency.However, he was defeated against Congress' Surinder Dawar and BJP's Gurdev Sharma Debi.
Kaka Sood then joined SAD in 2018 and was interested in contesting the assembly elections in 2022 as well, but he was not given a ticket. Income raids took place at his residence and business, after which he was assured a ticket by Badal. Senior leaders claimed that at a time when the BJP has fielded Ravneet Bittu from Ludhiana and the Congress was considering names of veteran Bharat Bhushan Ashu and other former MLAs, giving a chance to a Sikh face might help the party win Sikh votes in the rural belt and woo voters in the urban areas as well.
SAD’s senior leaders were doubtful of Vipan Sood’s success and have raised concerns over the party’s chances in the municipal elections in case he fails to muster votes. However, some say Kaka Sood had himself denied contesting the election while some say he had already started public meetings to contest the elections from Ludhiana. On Monday, Sukhbir Badal announced Ranjit Singh Dhillon as its candidate, and on Thursday, Sood re-joined the saffron party.
The district BJP president Rajnish Dhiman said, “The BJP family is expanding, and more people are getting attached to it after getting impressed with the policies of PM Narendra Modi.” He said Kaka Sood has come back to the party fold, and they welcome him. Meanwhile, SAD candidate Ranjit Dhillon showed ignorance about the reason for Kaka Sood’s decision to join the saffron party and said, “I was busy campaigning in Jagraon since morning and just came to know about the same. I cannot say anything why he joined the BJP, but he was absent from party activities for some days.”
Despite attempts, Kaka Sood could not be contacted for his comments.