Days after Balwant Singh Ramoowalia quit Shiromani Akali Dal and took oath as Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister, his former colleagues and SAD leaders today said they had asked him not to take such a step but he refused to listen.
Ramandip Singh Bhaorowal and Amarik Singh Varpal, Ramoowalia's colleagues from Lok Bhalai Party, which was formed by him and merged with SAD in 2011, said the leader "should not have done this."
"We strongly condemn his decision to join Samajwadi Party," the two leaders said at a conference here.
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The leaders said they had requested Ramoowalia not to quit SAD but he did not listen to them.
"We are still with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal because we have full faith in their leadership," they said.
In a setback to ruling SAD, Ramoowalia, a two-term former MP from Sangrur in Punjab and a former Union minister, on October 31 quit the party and took oath as a Cabinet Minister in Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh.
