Chandigarh: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab suffered double jolt as its only MP in the state, Sushil Rinku, joined the rival BJP along with a sitting MLA Sheetal Angural on Wednesday, just a few weeks ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Of the total 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, AAP had only one. While the Congress had eight, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP had two each. Rinku was an MP from Jalandhar (SC) seat and the AAP MLA Sheetal Angural was from Jalandhar (west).
The two leaders joined the saffron party in presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde and state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar in Delhi.
Rinku, formerly a Congress MLA, had quit the party last year and joined AAP to fight the by-election to the Jalandhar (SC) seat which had fallen vacant due to death of Congress’ MP Santokh Choudhary during Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab. As an MP, Rinku was vocal in criticising BJP in the Lok Sabha.
Notably, Rinku was the Congress MLA from Jalandhar (west) seat in the 2017 assembly but was defeated by the AAP candidate Sheetal Angural in the 2022 polls.
Speaking on the occasion, Rinku alleged that the state AAP government was not helping him in the developmental projects and that he joined the BJP for the betterment of the state. He held that he was impressed with the working style of prime minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home minister Amit Shah and hence the decision to join the BJP for the development of his constituency by bringing the Central government projects to Jalandhar.
The AAP suffered the setback at a time when the party supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was in the custody of the enforcement directorate in connection with the excise policy case in the national capital.
Pertinently, on Tuesday only, Congress’ Ravneet Singh Bittu, a three-time Congress MP from Punjab and grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by Khalistani ultras, had joined BJP.
