In a major setback to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab in the run-up to the parliamentary election, its lone Lok Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Rinku and a party legislator Sheetal Angural on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mr. Rinku was announced as an AAP candidate from the Jalandhar constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha election as well. In 2023, Mr. Rinku joined the AAP a few days ahead of the Jalandhar parliamentary byelection in Punjab and won the election for his new party by defeating the nearest rival of the Congress party. Mr. Angural was elected to the State Assembly from Jalandhar West in the 2022 election.
Both AAP leaders joined the BJP in New Delhi, in the presence of party national General Secretary Vinod Tawde and BJP Punjab president Sunil Jakhar. On Tuesday, Congress’s senior leader and Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu joined the BJP. He is the grandson of late Chief Minister Beant Singh.