Former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Sohan Singh Thandal, who represented Chabbewal (erstwhile Mahilpur) assembly constituency four times in a row from 1997 to 2017, joined the BJP in the presence of the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge and former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in Hoshiarpur on Thursday.

Thandal is likely to contest the Chabbewal byelection on the BJP ticket. The official announcement in this regard is expected by the evening from the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the byelection is October 25.

Rupani welcomed Thandal in the BJP and hoped his entry would further strengthen the party in Punjab. He said that the decision to induct the former SAD leader was made after taking the local BJP leadership into confidence. He hoped all party workers would put up a united front.

He said the BJP was capable of contesting the assembly elections on its own and its performance in the the recent parliamentary elections had been satisfactory in terms of vote share. “We are fighting the bypolls in all seriousness and hope to win all four seats,” he said.

“The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has failed the people of Punjab, should take the byelections as a warning. The verdict is set to be against the ruling government,” he said.

Thandal thanked the BJP leadership and said he was happy to be part of the saffron ‘parivar’. He said he would remain a BJP loyalist even if the party does not field him from Chabbewal.

“I remained loyal to the SAD for decades and still have utmost regard for the party and its leaders for having given me so much respect. It is due to the present circumstances that I decided to leave. If I have joined the BJP, I will remain loyal to it,” he told reporters.

Thandal had contested the recent Lok Sabha elections from Hoshiarpur on the SAD ticket against AAP’s Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who had defeated him in the past two assembly elections as the Congress nominee. This time, Thandal faces Raj Kumar’s son Ishank, who is the AAP candidate.