Aap suffers major setback ahead of Punjab polls as three rebel MLAs join bjp

In a significant political development ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party has suffered a major setback. Three of its prominent rebel legislators, namely Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, have officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. These three leaders formally embraced the BJP in the national capital, New Delhi. Following their induction into the party, all three MLAs launched scathing attacks against the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government and asserted that only the BJP is capable of ensuring the true development of Punjab.

This entire political crisis unfolded right after the Aam Aadmi Party released its initial list of forty candidates for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections. As soon as this first list was made public, deep resentment and rebellion surfaced within the party ranks. First, on Sunday, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, the MLA from Sanour, and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, the MLA from Samana, resigned from the primary membership of the party. On the very next day, Monday, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, the MLA from Amritsar North and a former IPS officer, submitted his formal resignation from the membership of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.

After joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, rebel MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh made a bold claim that the Aam Aadmi Party has been completely wiped out in Punjab. He alleged that Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann have themselves brought about the end of the party through their actions. According to him, the Aam Aadmi Party practically ceases to exist anymore, and a double-engine government will soon be established in the state of Punjab.

Former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh sent his formal resignation letter directly to the Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. While releasing a special message addressed to the resilient people of Amritsar through social media, he confirmed that he had relinquished his membership in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, while he also expressed his profound gratitude for the immense love and respect he received from the public throughout his tenure.

Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh claimed that as an MLA, he successfully fulfilled ninety percent of the work targets he had set for himself during his tenure, while he stated that eradicating the patronizing mai-baap political culture was his greatest and most significant achievement. According to him, he always considered the general public as the ultimate source of his inspiration and relentlessly raised the genuine concerns of the people of Amritsar inside the legislative assembly.

It's worth noting that Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh had resigned from his IPS service and joined the Aam Aadmi Party just ahead of the assembly elections in the year 2022. He successfully contested and won from the Amritsar North assembly constituency, while however, the party later suspended him for a period of five years due to alleged anti-party activities.

Just a day prior to Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh's resignation, two other prominent MLAs had severed ties with the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday. These included Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, the MLA from Sanour seat in Patiala district, and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, the MLA from Samana seat and a former cabinet minister, while pathanmajra had sent his resignation letter directly to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, while Chetan Singh Jouramajra announced his resignation from the party's primary membership through a social media post. Both leaders had raised serious questions regarding the functioning of the party leadership and the Punjab state government.

The internal discontent within AAP came out in the open after the party released its first list of forty candidates for the 2027 Punjab assembly elections. In that list, Ranjodh Singh Hadana was appointed as the constituency in-charge for Pathanmajra's Sanour seat, and former Akali leader Surjit Singh Rakhra was appointed for Jouramajra's Samana seat, while following their resignations, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jouramajra leveled multiple allegations against the Punjab government and the AAP leadership. They specifically raised pressing issues such as the rampant drug menace, deteriorating law and order, rising corruption, and alleged unwarranted interference by Delhi-based leaders in the administrative affairs of the Punjab government.

On the other hand, following the departure of these two lawmakers, the Aam Aadmi Party adopted a firm stance, stating that it would approach the assembly Speaker to demand the immediate cancellation of the assembly memberships of both Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jouramajra. The party asserted that both MLAs had already been suspended earlier due to proven disciplinary and anti-party activities.