Punjab: Congress, BJP leaders join AAP; party says ‘result of its pro-people work’

Punjab BJP leader Akhtiar Singh Sadiora and state Congress leaders Rajeev Bhagat and Gursharan Singh on Tuesday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) along with their associates in Chandigarh.

The leaders joined the party in the presence of AAP’s Punjab affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh and party’s state general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat at the party headquarters here.

Akhtiar Singh Sadiora, from Moga, has been the president of Punjab BJP’s Heavy Industry Cell. AAP leaders said Sadiora has been actively participating in the ongoing farmers’ movement, providing help to farmers who are agitating against Centre’s farm laws at Delhi borders.

Meanwhile, Rajeev Bhagat from Amritsar has been the general secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC). He is also the general secretary of B D Bhagat Memorial Society and president, Indian Labour Trade Union.

Rajeev Bhagat has also been the chairman of Bhagat Kabir Parchar Samiti and delegate member of the PPCC. He had also remained the president of District Congress Committee, Amritsar from 2014 to 2016, besides being a member of Amritsar Improvement Trust from 2003 to 2007 and general secretary of Punjab Youth Congress from 1998 to 2008.

Another Congress leader, Gursharan Singh from Amritsar, who has been the secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and former member of Industrial Board, also joined AAP Tuesday. He had facilitated the release of 17 Punjabis who were awarded death sentence in Sharjah in 2011 by paying the blood money to one Misri Khan of Pakistan. He has also acted as social media in-charge in the MP elections of Capt Amarinder Singh in 2013 at Amritsar and is associated with many NGOs and social organisations.

Welcoming the leaders who joined the AAP, party’s Punjab incharge Jarnail Singh said that influenced by the pro-people policies of the Aam Aadmi Party and the works of Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal government, people are joining the party in large numbers.

He said the people of Punjab were joining the party after being influenced by the work done by the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and claimed that they saw AAP as the only credible alternative that can bring a real change. He said that the people were leaving the BJP and the Congress due to their anti-people policies. Taking a dig at Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, he said the Captain did not fulfill any of the promises made before the elections and was the most inefficient Chief Minister of the whole of India.

Jarnail Singh claimed that the youth of Punjab will definitely take account of the false promises made by Captain Amarinder.

‘Capt’s claims of breaking backbone of drugs supply exposed’

Earlier, AAP youth wing president Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer claimed that ‘chitta’ was being sold openly in the state. Hayer said a couple in Bathinda had reached the brink of death due to overdose of ‘chitta’. A few days back, a policeman was also found unconscious in Bathinda due to overdose.

“These incidents show that Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government has completely reneged on all the promises made before the last assembly elections, including drugs,” he added.

The AAP leader said Amarinder Singh had gone back on every promise he had made to the youth before the 2017 elections. “Before the elections, he used to claim that he would arrest the drug smugglers and throw them in jail but after coming to power, he is patronising them,” said Hayer.