AAP calls BJP ‘kabaad di dukaan’ after 3 suspended Punjab MLAs join party

Chandigarh. Hours after three of its suspended MLAs switched sides, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday accused the BJP of trying to win Punjab with leaders who face rape, corruption and police firing charges.

Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh joined the BJP on Monday. Jouramajra represents Samana and Pathanmajra represents Sanour, while Singh is the MLA from Amritsar North. They reached the BJP headquarters in New Delhi and took membership in the presence of senior party leaders.

Pathanmajra faces a rape case filed by a Zirakpur woman, who alleged that he passed himself off as divorced and married her in 2021 while he was still married. He is out on bail.

AAP Punjab president Aman Arora said the BJP had taken in leaders facing allegations of corruption, rape and firing at the police because it had nothing of its own in the state.

“The BJP has neither leadership, nor any agenda, nor a political base in Punjab, which is why it is resorting to inducting such individuals,” Arora said.

He added, “The people of Punjab understand everything very well. If the BJP believes that it can form a government in Punjab by relying on such individuals, it is nothing more than a Mungeri Lal Ka Haseen Sapna.”

The phrase, taken from a popular 1990s TV serial about a daydreamer, refers to a dream that will never come true.

‘One faces rape case, another showed no sensitivity’

AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Pannu said the BJP was rejoicing over leaders AAP had already pushed out.

“The BJP is extremely happy about inducting three MLAs who had already been distanced from the Aam Aadmi Party. One of them faces a rape case, while another showed no sensitivity even when innocent children lost their lives. These were precisely the reasons why the party had taken action against them,” he said.

Pannu said the exits would not hurt AAP. “The Aam Aadmi Party is not going to be affected by the departure of two or three individuals. No individual is bigger than the organisation,” he said.

‘Politically discarded leaders welcome’

In a statement, AAP said it had never hesitated to act against its own leaders when they went against Punjab’s interests or the party’s principles.

The party said the BJP was doing the opposite. “Instead of building an organisation among the people of Punjab or earning their confidence through public service, it is busy collecting leaders who have been rejected, suspended or removed by other political parties. The BJP has effectively turned itself into a ‘kabaad di dukaan’, where politically discarded individuals are being welcomed without any consideration for their conduct,” it said.

Kabaad di dukaan is Punjabi for a junk shop.

AAP is also set to seek cancellation of the Assembly membership of two of the MLAs after their resignations.

The three leaders have their own charges against AAP. They accused the party’s Delhi leaders, especially Arvind Kejriwal and his aide Bibhav Kumar, of interfering in Punjab’s administration, and attacked the state government over corruption, crime, extortion, gang violence and drugs.

The switch comes months before the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, with the BJP trying to build a base in a state where it has never been a major force on its own.