The protesters wrote the words “Wall (traitor)” on the outer walls and main gate of former cricketer Singh’s residence in Jalandhar.
A day after seven Aam Aadmi Party MPs from the Rajya Sabha, led by Raghav Chadha, merged with the BJP, AAP workers staged protests against the former party leaders.
Among the seven leaders who resigned from the AAP were Rajya Sabha MPs Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Mittal. The protesting party workers on Saturday described both Singh and Mittal as “traitors”.
Workers wrote the term “wall (traitor)” on the outer walls and main gate of former cricketer Singh’s residence in Jalandhar, as well as outside the main entrance of the Phagwara campus of Lovely Professional University, owned by Mittal. Protesters were also seen defacing a Mittal poster outside the LPU campus.
Apart from Singh and Mittal, Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Vikram Singh Sahni, Sandeep Pathak and Rajender Gupta also left AAP. The MPs will retain their Rajya Sabha membership, since they constitute two-thirds of the AAP’s strength while they decide to merge with the BJP.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday released videos of protests taking place across Punjab against the MPs.
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“Punjab traitors are facing a backlash across the state. Sharp protest demonstrations were held at various places against the Rajya Sabha members who fell at the feet of the BJP by betraying Punjab; people also shouted slogans against these members and also against the BJP’s anti-Punjab policies,” AAP’s Punjab unit said in a post on X.
AAP leaders claimed that Chadha and the other six MPs left the party “out of fear”, with some also terming it as “Operation Lotus”.
“He was left not in fear but in disgust”: Chadha
Responding to criticism from AAP leaders, Chadha said the seven MPs left the Aam Aadmi Party “not out of fear but after disillusionment”.
“Those who are saying this, especially the Aam Aadmi Party leaders, are that we left the Aam Aadmi Party out of fear. We left the Aam Aadmi Party not out of fear but after being disillusioned with the Aam Aadmi Party. We did not leave the Aam Aadmi Party out of disgust but we were disgusted with the Aam Aadmi Party,” Chadha was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Read also | Kejriwal admitted Mittal to AAP, Mittal gave him his house to stay in, and they both left on the same day: What happened between them
After leaving the Justice and Development Party, Chadha claimed that the party had deviated from its morals and principles. “Every honest and hardworking person feels that there is no longer room for work in the Aam Aadmi Party. The Aam Aadmi Party is now on a wrong path that no one wants to be associated with,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
