Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday hit out at the BJP over its attempts to induct leaders who had left or been expelled by other parties.Reacting to the buzz that its MLAs Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jauramajra were likely to join the BJP after resigning from the party, AAP Punjab chief spokesperson and Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said, “The BJP has become a ‘kabaad di dukaan’ (scrap shop) collecting rejected political faces.”Addressing a news conference in Amritsar, Dhaliwal claimed, “While the AAP had consistently put Punjab’s interests first and taken action against its own ministers and MLAs over corruption, the BJP was now bringing in leaders facing serious allegations, including cases involving firing at Punjab Police and rape.”He described the “BJP’s recruitment of such leaders in parallel to the failure of its anti-drug campaign and Amit Shah’s Jalandhar rally”, which he emphasised was a “super flop”.He claimed that people were “backing the work of the Bhagwant Mann govt and that AAP would return to power in Punjab in 2027 with a massive majority”.Dhaliwal emphasised, “The AAP was formed under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal with the mission of cleaning the filth of corruption from the country’s politics. From the very first day of the Bhagwant Mann govt, we made it clear that there is no place in the AAP for people hungry for positions or power.”He added, “We have always kept Punjab’s interests above everything else. If any of our leaders has ever indulged in corruption or tried to act against Punjab’s interests, we have taken action without hesitation and shown them the door. AAP is the first govt in Punjab’s history to take strict action against its own ministers and MLAs and send them to jail when corruption allegations were levelled against them.”“Those MLAs against whom serious allegations had surfaced, who were facing cases such as firing at the police, or who had violated party discipline, had already been suspended by the party and shown the door,” he said.“The person who fired at Punjab Police and fled, and the person whom CM Bhagwant Mann’s govt sent to jail in a rape case, cannot work for the welfare of Punjab. Yet, the BJP is bringing in precisely such people. Those who are hungry for power were never leaders with any vision. They are running away instead of standing up and fighting for Punjab’s interests,” Dhaliwal added.He further said, “The BJP has no support base in Punjab and is collecting rejected leaders and discarded material from other parties because it has nothing of its own. Whether they are Congress leaders, those surviving on the mercy of the Shiromani Akali Dal, or tainted faces expelled from AAP, the BJP is gathering them in a futile attempt to save its existence. This also shows that the BJP has no concern for Punjab’s interests.”AAP Punjab media in charge Baltej Pannu posted on X, “Two AAP MLAs have resigned from the party today, but due to the actions of both of them, the party had already sidelined them. Now both of them will join the BJP, which cannot find candidates in Punjab. BJP remains a party of the discarded, where only rejects from other parties go.”Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema posted, “The AAP has always prioritised the interests of Punjab. If any of our leaders ever engaged in corruption or attempted to act against Punjab’s interests, we took action against them without hesitation and showed such people the door.”“The BJP is gathering exactly these rejected individuals, because it has no leader of its own and no concern whatsoever for Punjab’s interests. What good can a person do for Punjab who fled after firing at the Punjab Police, a person whom CM Bhagwant Mann sent to jail on charges of forcible rape? But that’s precisely the kind of people the BJP needs. All this proves that the BJP is completely hollow in Punjab. It has no base of its own, no reliable leader, and not even any concrete vision for the people of Punjab,” Cheema said.Meanwhile, during a news conference in Chandigarh on Sunday, Pathanmajra alleged that he was falsely accused of firing at police.
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