Chandigarh: Within hours of his resigning from the Punjab Assembly and the opposition Congress, Joginder Pal Jain was rehabilitated by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance.
Jain has been appointed as Chairman of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation with immediate effect.
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister`s Office said here today, "Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal cleared the file to this effect on Wednesday evening" some hours after he joined the SAD at a function at the party headquarters here.
The sitting Congress MLA from Moga resigned from the assembly and joined the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) along with his supporters here yesterday.
Welcoming Jain to the SAD fold, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the party President, told reporters that Jain had joined SAD "unconditionally".
"It may perhaps be the first example in the political history of this country when a sitting MLA had resigned from the assembly and joined another party," Badal said.
He also announced that SAD`s candidate for the Moga by-poll will now be Jain. Jain had defeated former DGP P S Gill of SAD in the last assembly polls.
On being pressed whether he was joining SAD as few cases are pending against him, Jain claimed no case was pending against him.
"I am joining SAD as the present system of working in the Congress is not of my liking," he said.
"I am not a politician...But Congress is anti-people... even in the last polls it did not take action against those within Congress who worked against me," he said, adding, "I have full faith in the policies and programmes of SAD under the leadership of Sukhbir."
In the 117-member Punjab assembly, the strength of SAD is 56, its ally BJP 12, Congress 45 and there are three independents.
Moga seat is now vacant. SAD is one short of absolute majority as a single party in the assembly.
PTI
