Former Director General of Police (DGP) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota may make a political comeback in the Lok Sabha elections, with inside sources suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are seriously considering him for the Hoshiarpur reserved seat.
Sahota, a 1988 batch IPS officer, retired in September 2022 and hails from a village near Dasuya in Hoshiarpur district. He belongs to the sectarian Sikh Valmiki community, which has a considerable presence in the Doaba.
Sahota was given the charge of Acting DGP when Congress was in the process of replacing Captain Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Channi as Chief Minister in September 2021. However, Sahota decided to step down in December of the same year after expressing his inability to do so. "To comply with some orders that the government wanted it to implement under pressure from certain political quarters."
Union Minister of State Som Prakash is representing the reserved part of Hoshiarpur. The BJP high command has not announced the candidature of Som Prakash in the first list, making it likely that the party will not consider him for the post. His wife Anita Som Prakash is being considered for the seat as a large section of the Punjab BJP has thrown its weight behind her.
Sahota's father had also contested assembly elections from Dasuya on BSP ticket two decades ago.
When contacted, Sahota said he has no offer from the BJP yet but did not rule out the possibility of joining politics. "I have always been active in my native place because my family is connected to its roots," he said.