Big blow to AAP as three MLAs join BJP ahead of 2027 Punjab Assembly elections

In a big blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, three of its legislators, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, Chetan Singh Jouramajra, and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday.

The leaders arrived at the BJP Headquarters in Delhi and were seen raising slogans of “BJP Zindabad” ahead of officially joining the party.

Pathanmajra and Jouramajra resigned from the party on Sunday. Meanwhile, Singh tendered his resignation from the party on Monday.

The resignations came after the AAP released its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 assembly elections. The party, however, had not announced candidates for either Sanaur or Samana, the constituencies represented by the Pathanmajra and Jouramajra.

Pathanmajra, the MLA from Sanaur, submitted his resignation to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, quitting the party with immediate effect. Former cabinet minister and Samana MLA Jouramajra also announced his resignation through a social media post.

Confirming their move to the BJP, Pathanmajra said both leaders would be formally inducted into the party by BJP president Nitin Nabin in Delhi on Monday.

Explaining his decision, Pathanmajra said the BJP, being a national party, could bring significant benefits to Punjab if it came to power in the state. He also pointed to the party's commitment to eliminating drugs, citing Union home minister Amit Shah's recent announcement on the issue.

After quitting the AAP, both leaders launched a scathing attack on the party's leadership, alleging that its Delhi-based leaders, particularly Kejriwal and his close aide Bibhav Kumar, were interfering in Punjab's governance. They also accused the state government of failing on several fronts, citing alleged corruption, rising crime, snatching incidents, extortion, gang violence and murders. They further questioned the government's failure to fulfil its promise of making Punjab drug-free.

The AAP on Monday requested the Speaker to cancel the Assembly membership of both leaders. It added that the two had already been suspended from the party for alleged anti-party activities. Following their suspension, both leaders resigned from the party, news agency ANI reported.

Singh’s resignation

Sharing a copy of his resignation sent to Punjab assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Singh in a Facebook post said, “I have resigned from the membership of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. I will remain indebted to you until my last breath for the love and respect you have given me,” he said.

Singh is widely known for his dissenting views and was suspended from the ruling AAP for five years in June. An IPS officer, he headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the post-sacrilege police firing incidents in 2015, in which two Sikh protesters were killed.

“With your cooperation and God's blessings, rising above the politics of streets, drains, and ribbon-cutting, we all must make a united effort to rebuild Punjab—currently trapped in the grips of drugs, extortion, gang culture, and corruption—into a progressive and leading state once again,” he added.

“As you all know, I have accomplished 90 percent of my targets as an MLA, covering the work that an MLA is supposed to do. The duties of a councilor, mayor, and Member of Parliament are separate from this. I have also provided a detailed account of the works carried out area-wise through my efforts, which is available in newspapers and on my Facebook page.”

The former IPS officer had joined the AAP ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections in the presence of the party's national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal.

“Moving forward, formulating a strategy together with you to ensure clean politics and a transparent administration will be my objective. My sole purpose is ‘Punjab First’. Other than that, I have no personal self-interest,” he added.

The resignations have highlighted the growing differences within the Punjab AAP unit, particularly over constituency-level appointments and the party leadership’s electoral strategy.