Removed as AAP candidate, Darbari Lal returns to Congress

NEW DELHI (INDIA): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today removed Darbari Lal as its Amritsar (central) candidate on charges of corruption and barely hours later, he returned to the Congress and accused the AAP leadership of having a “destructive mentality”, which was detrimental to the interests of Punjab.nnLal, who rejoined the Congress in Delhi, said the party under the leadership of Amarinder Singh was the only hope of succour for the crisis-ridden state and that he had no desire for a poll ticket and only wanted to serve the state.nnAn AAP spokesperson said in Chandigarh that Lal’s candidature from Amritsar (central) Assembly seat has been cancelled after serious allegation of corruption surfaced against him.nnEarlier in the day, AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi said that Lal’s candidature was cancelled due to his “ill health” and the new candidate will be announced soon.nnLal had been admitted to a hospital for the past few days and he was unable to campaign in the area, Ghuggi said.nnIt’s the second time within a week that AAP has changed its Amritsar (central) candidate.nnOn January 6, AAP had nominated Lal, replacing Rajinder Kumar with less than 24 hours after it had announced Kumar’s name.nnLal had left the Congress earlier due to some genuine grudges he had with the party, which had now been sorted out and he had hence decided to rejoin and help all the party candidates in Amritsar, state Congress president Singh said in a statement.nnAccusing AAP and its leadership of having a destructive mentality which was detrimental to the interests of Punjab, Lal said the party was a rank outsider with no base in the state.nnLal is a three-time Congress MLA and former deputy speaker in the state assembly.nnHe had joined BJP in 2014 and later left the party to join AAP.nnPunjab goes to polls on February 4. It has 117 assembly seats.