{"id":64843,"date":"2026-05-13T14:22:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/?p=64843"},"modified":"2026-05-13T14:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:52:44","slug":"sad-sanyukt-founder-surjit-singh-rakhra-likely-to-join-aap-ahead-of-punjab-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/latest\/sad-sanyukt-founder-surjit-singh-rakhra-likely-to-join-aap-ahead-of-punjab-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"SAD (Sanyukt) founder Surjit Singh Rakhra likely to join AAP ahead of Punjab polls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chandigarh: Senior leader and founding member of Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) Surjit Singh Rakhra is reportedly preparing to join the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab.<\/p>\n<p>According to political sources, Rakhra is expected to contest the next Assembly election from his native Samana constituency on an AAP ticket.<\/p>\n<p>Meeting with CM Bhagwant Mann reportedly held<\/p>\n<p>Sources claimed that discussions between the Rakhra family and Bhagwant Mann have already taken place and an understanding has been reached informally.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting is said to have taken place around a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>Though there has been no official confirmation so far, reports suggest that Bhagwant Mann may personally visit Rakhra\u2019s residence \u2018Kartar Villa\u2019 in Patiala in the coming days to formally induct him into the party.<\/p>\n<p>Rakhra hints at political move<\/p>\n<p>During a phone conversation with media persons, Surjit Singh Rakhra reportedly hinted at the possibility of the political switch.<\/p>\n<p>It has also emerged that his son Sukhi Dhaliwal, who lives in the United States, has arrived at their native village Rakhra amid the ongoing political developments.<\/p>\n<p>The reports have triggered intense speculation in Punjab\u2019s political circles ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chandigarh: Senior leader and founding member of Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) Surjit Singh Rakhra is reportedly preparing to join the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab. According to political sources, Rakhra is expected to contest the next Assembly election from his native Samana constituency on an AAP ticket. Meeting with CM Bhagwant Mann reportedly held [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21,20],"tags":[14859,14856,14857,14858],"class_list":["post-64843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-political-news","category-punjab","tag-of-punjab-polls","tag-sad-sanyukt-founder-surjit","tag-singh-rakhra-likely","tag-to-join-aap-ahead"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SAD (Sanyukt) founder Surjit Singh Rakhra likely to join AAP ahead of Punjab polls - PunjabENews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/latest\/sad-sanyukt-founder-surjit-singh-rakhra-likely-to-join-aap-ahead-of-punjab-polls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SAD (Sanyukt) founder Surjit Singh Rakhra likely to join AAP ahead of Punjab polls - PunjabENews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chandigarh: Senior leader and founding member of Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) Surjit Singh Rakhra is reportedly preparing to join the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab. According to political sources, Rakhra is expected to contest the next Assembly election from his native Samana constituency on an AAP ticket. 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