AAP workers on Saturday staged demonstrations outside the residences of Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta after they left the party and joined the BJP. Protesters spray-painted the word “Gaddar” (traitor) on the boundary walls of their houses in Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
On Friday, AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak announced that they were leaving the party and joining the BJP along with five other MPs. The others named were Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal and Vikramjit Sahney. During the demonstrations, workers raised slogans of “Punjab de Gaddar”, accusing the MPs of betraying the people of Punjab.
In Jalandhar, AAP leader Pawan Kumar Tinu said the party would return to power in Punjab in 2027 and claimed the BJP had no political base in the state. He alleged that out of political frustration, the BJP resorted to poaching AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs. Tinu also accused the Congress, BJP and Akali Dal of forming an “unholy alliance” against AAP and making coordinated statements on the defections. AAP Punjab Youth Wing acting president Parminder Goldy led a protest outside MP Rajinder Gupta’s residence in Ludhiana, where slogans were raised 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."
AAP leaders reiterated that the party remained united and committed to serving the people, asserting that those who betray Punjab’s trust would ultimately be judged by the public.
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