New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) Three Punjab MLAs who recently resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, dealing a major blow to the ruling party in Punjab just months ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
The three MLAs joined the BJP at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Monday.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, representing the Amritsar North Assembly constituency, resigned on Monday. Singh, a former IPS officer, also sent his resignation letter to the Punjab Assembly Speaker on Monday.
He was suspended by the AAP for five years in June 2025 for alleged anti-party activities as he had opposed the arrest of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a Disproportionate Assets case.
Sharing the information on X, Singh said that he will remain “indebted to you until my last breath for the love and respect you have shown me”, referring to the people of the state.
“With your cooperation and the blessings of the Almighty, we must all unite in a collective effort to rise above the politics of lanes and ribbon-cutting, and transform Punjab — trapped by drugs, extortion, gangsterism, and corruption — back into a progressive and beloved state,” he said.
Singh asserted that he had achieved “90 per cent targets”, adding that his “greatest achievement” was “ending the ‘mai-baap’ culture in politics and working by considering the public as my source of inspiration”.
“In the Punjab Legislative Assembly, I always raised the voice of Amritsaris and boldly addressed issues from water and sewage to Circuit House, Company Bagh, dirty drains, Guru Nanak Dev University, Government Medical College, Saroop Rani College, and the Bargari sacrilege case. This was the first time that area-specific issues were raised by me in the Punjab Legislative Assembly by naming lanes and neighbourhoods,” he said.
“Working together with you to formulate a forward strategy, my aim will be to ensure clean politics and transparent administration. My sole purpose is ‘Punjab First’. Apart from this, I will have no personal interests,” he added.
Earlier on Sunday, Singh had hit out at AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, asserting that the party had strayed from its founding ideals.
Pratap’s exit follows the resignations of fellow MLAs, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, who resigned from the AAP’s primary membership and the Assembly on Sunday.
Pathanmajra, who represents the Sanour Assembly constituency in Patiala district, sent his resignation letter to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, announcing his decision to quit the party with immediate effect.
“I hereby submit my resignation from primary membership of Aam Aadmi Party with immediate effect,” he wrote in his letter.
Pathanmajra has been at the centre of several controversies in the past. A rape case was registered against him, following which he travelled to Australia. He was subsequently arrested by the police after returning to India to join the investigation into the case.
The Punjab Police had registered a case against the first-time legislator from Sanaur on September 1, 2025, on charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation. The 50-year-old MLA had allegedly fled from his relative’s house in Dabri village of Karnal on September 2, 2025, just minutes after a Punjab Police team reached the location to arrest him in connection with the rape case.
Pathanmajra had made a dramatic escape from police custody in September last year and had been evading arrest since then.
Meanwhile, Jouramajra, who represents the Samana Assembly constituency and has also served as a minister in the Punjab government, announced his resignation through a social media post.
According to media reports, tensions had reportedly been building between him and the party leadership after the AAP high command appointed former senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Surjit Singh Rakhra as the in-charge of the Samana Assembly constituency.
The decision had reportedly left Jouramajra unhappy with the party leadership, as the appointment of another leader as constituency in-charge in his own Assembly seat was viewed as a setback to his political standing and influence in the area.
The resignations of the two legislators come at a crucial time for the AAP, which is facing a political challenge ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
–IANS
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