Chandigarh: AAP workers on Saturday held protests outside the residences of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta, who quit the party and joined the BJP. The workers wrote ‘Gaddar’ (traitor) on the boundary walls of their houses with spray paint in Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
On Friday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak announced that they were quitting the party and joining the BJP along with five other MPs. Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal, and Vikramjit Sahney were the other AAP MPs they named.
The protesters raised slogans of “Punjab de Gaddar”, accusing them of betraying the people of Punjab.
In Jalandhar, AAP leader Pawan Kumar Tinu said, “The AAP government will return to power in Punjab in 2027, and the BJP will have no political ground left to stand on. Out of frustration, the BJP has resorted to poaching AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs by hook or crook. The Congress, BJP and Akali Dal have formed an unholy alliance against AAP, which is why their leaders are making similar statements about AAP MPs defecting to the BJP.”
AAP Punjab Youth Wing acting president Parminder Goldy led a protest outside the residence of MP Rajinder Gupta in Ludhiana, raising slogans against him.
He said, “The people of Punjab will never forgive this betrayal of trust. The BJP is deeply unsettled by Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of development and governance, and is attempting to destabilise AAP through conspiracies. However, these efforts will fail because every AAP worker stands firmly with the party’s leadership and its vision.”
The AAP leaders reiterated that the party remains united and committed to serving the people of Punjab, asserting that those who betray the trust of Punjab will ultimately be held accountable by the people.
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