Former Punjab Minister Joginder Singh Mann on Saturday joined the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the upcoming assembly polls. Mann, who was with the Congress for 50 years now, was miffed with the party over the lack of action against perpetrators of an alleged multi-crore post-matric SC scholarship scam and non-grant of district status to Phagwara.
"Inspired by Arvind ji's vision, Punjab's former cabinet minister and three-time MLA Joginder Singh Mann ji joins AAP ending his 50-year-old association with Congress. He was presently chairman of Punjab Agro Industries Corp. His induction will give a huge boost to the party's unit in Punjab," AAP leader and Punjab co-in-charge Raghav Chadha tweeted. He added that Mann's joining will give the party a boost in the state.
Mann resigned from the party and as the chairman of Punjab Agro Industries Corporation. The senior leader from the Scheduled Caste community is a three-time MLA from Phagwara. He has served as minister in Cabinets including that of Beant Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and Amarinder Singh.
Following his resignation, Mann wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi that he had a dream that he would die as a Congressman.
"But with Congress patronising the guilty of the post-matric scholarship scheme, my conscience doesn't allow me to stay here," he had said.