Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a political setback in Punjab on Monday as three of its leaders, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a former IPS officer representing Amritsar North who had been suspended by the AAP, put in his papers as a legislator in the morning and was at the BJP headquarters by the afternoon. Chetan Singh Jouramajra, the MLA from Samana in Patiala district, and Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra of Sanour travelled to the capital with him. The two had resigned from the party's primary membership a day earlier. Early accounts described them as preparing to join; by the time of the ceremony all three had taken membership slips.
Slogans of "BJP Zindabad" were raised outside the headquarters. Party flags were draped around the new entrants' necks, and handshakes and smiles marked the event before the trio joined hands with senior BJP leaders and held them aloft in a show of unity.
The timing is crucial for the AAP as the three exits came within 48 hours and followed the party's first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 assembly elections, in which neither Samana nor Sanour figured. The party has said it will approach the Punjab assembly Speaker to seek cancellation of the legislative membership of Jouramajra and Pathanmajra, alleging anti-party activity. Both had been suspended before they quit. The departures leave the AAP facing a stiffer political challenge in a state it governs.
The departing legislators have accused the Bhagwant Mann government of falling short on its promises, pointing to the drug menace and drug-related deaths, mounting state debt and everyday governance. Pathanmajra said the two would move to a party that works in Punjab's interest. Jouramajra, a former minister, served in the Mann cabinet from January 2023 until September 2024, when he was dropped in a reshuffle.
The AAP has hit back at the BJP over the inductions. State unit president Aman Arora accused it of recycling politicians who had quit or been thrown out elsewhere, while chief spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal described the BJP as a "kabaad di dukaan", a scrap shop. The party has meanwhile been promoting its welfare measures, including free electricity units.
The defections have raised questions about the AAP's ability to hold its legislative group together as Punjab heads into the 2027 contest, due early next year.
(With inputs from media reports)