Jalandhar: AAP’s lone Lok Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Rinku and Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural joined BJP, dealing a blow to the governing party in Punjab that had named Rinku as its Jalandhar candidate for the June 1 parliamentary elections in the state.
BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde inducted the Jalandhar MP and Angural, who had earlier accused BJP of trying to poach Punjab AAP MLAs in 2022, in the presence of Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar and Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Jakhar said Angural would submit his resignation to the assembly speaker.
The switch comes after BJP announced it would contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats alone and welcomed three-time Congress MP Ravneet Bittu into the party.
Punjab has been recording a series of shifting alliances, with recent defections from Congress to AAP including sitting MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal and former MLA Gurpreet Singh GP, who are hoping to contest the upcoming polls. Earlier in the month, Congress’s Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, wife of former CM Amarinder Singh, joined BJP.
With Punjab facing a four-cornered contest, more party switches are anticipated in the run-up to the polls.
While joining BJP, Rinku said that promises made during the assembly elections could not be fulfilled as Punjab govt did not back him. Rinku said he was willing to contest from Jalandhar if BJP decides to nominate him. Angural called AAP’s govt in Punjab “gunda raj”, saying that it was time to expose their “chicanery” and bring out the truth of “Operation Lotus with proof”.
