Late minister's son announces return to Akali fold

Chandigarh, April 8 (IANS) After blowing hot and cold for five days, Jasjit Singh Bunny, son of former minister and senior Akali Dal leader Kanwalijit Singh who died last week, Wednesday evening announced that he was re-joining the ruling Akali Dal in Punjab.

Bunny, 38, had resigned from the Akali Dal and his post as chairman of the state's cooperative bank just five days after the death of his father in a car accident.

Sharing a dais with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Akali Dal president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal at the memorial service for his father Sunday, Bunny announced that he would contest the forthcoming elections from the Patiala Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate.

The Badal duo was left embarrassed by Bunny's outburst.

Sources close to his family said that Bunny was upset with the Akali Dal and the Badals after he was not accommodated in the government after his father's sudden death.

'He announced his resignation in anger. Now he has reconciled after his supporters made him see reason,' a family source said.

Kanwaljit Singh, a senior cabinet minister in the Badal government and a suave and moderate face of the Akali Dal, was killed in a car accident near here March 29.