Anger against Akalis helped AAP in Punjab: Gandhi

AAP candidate Dharamvira Gandhi who defeated union minister Preneet Kaur from Patiala on Saturday said growing anger against the ruling SAD on various fronts and disillusionment with Congress had gone in favour of the fledgling outfit.

Aam Aadmi Party, which emerged as a giant killer in Punjab, won four of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

‘The Akalis came to power for the second time in a row in 2012 assembly polls. But it turned into the rule of mafia. The drug menace among youths also assumed alarming proportion,’ Gandhi, who defeated the three-time MP, said.

He said there was anger among the masses against the Akalis and they wanted to teach them a lesson.

‘Secondly, Congress, a party with 48 members in the in the state assembly... did not show any seriousness to confront the Akalis in the assembly, neither they had the will nor the spirit to fight,’ he claimed.