Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal on Friday appointed former Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee (68) as the halqa incharge from Kartarpur.Badal made the announcement during his visit to the town. Sarwan Singh Phillaur and Avinash Chander, who have earlier been Akali MLAs from Kartarpur, quit the SAD long ago. While Sarwan Singh Phillaur is with SAD (Reorganised), Avinash Chander is now a BJP leader.The SAD had earlier banked on Seth Satpal Mal, who could not perform well. For two years, ex-MC councillor and zila parishad member Paramjit Reru was also the halqa incharge but he had resigned from the post after the 2022 elections. The seat was in the BSP kitty in the last Assembly polls that the SAD contested in alliance with it.Now Kaypee’s name surfaced after SAD (rural) Jalandhar chief Bachitar Singh Kohar and his aide Gurnek Dhillon conducted a series of meetings with the party workers. Sukhbir Badal’s daughter’s in-laws too hail from Pattar Kalan village of Kartarpur.Though the family is apolitical, the insiders said that Sukhbir took their feedback also before finalising the name of Kaypee. Sukhbir went to Pattar Kalan after the Friday meeting.Interestingly, both Reru and former SAD chief Kulwant S Manan, who has been a staunch supporter of Reru for the seat, did not turn up at the rally today.Kaypee, who had quit Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, was made the SAD nominee for Jalandhar LS poll. But he had trailed on the fourth position bagging less than 7 per cent votes.A relative of Jalandhar Congress MP Charanjit S Channi, Kaypee did not support him and rather chose to stand against him in the elections.He was the MLA thrice from Jalandhar South Assembly seat (now called Jalandhar West)– in 1985, 1992 and 2002. After his stint as Jalandhar MP from 2009-14, he had unsuccessfully contested from Adampur in 2017. He had sought the ticket again from the Congress in 2022 but it went to now MLA Sukhwinder Kotli amid a huge drama.Son of former minister Darshan Singh Kaypee who was killed by terrorists, MS Kaypee has remained a Punjab minister twice and is considered a prominent Dalit leader of the region. He was the Minister of State for Youth and Sports Affairs in 1992 and later became the Minister of Technical Education and Transport.