Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers on Saturday staged protests in Jalandhar, targeting cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh and educationist Ashok Mittal a day after they defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), amid anger over the walkout of several Rajya Sabha members.
The demonstrators sprayed the word “wall” (traitor) on the walls of Harbhajan Singh’s house in Jalandhar. Derogatory remarks were also graffitied on the main gate of the Lovely Professional University (LPU) campus in Phagwara, owned by Mittal.
The demonstrations were led by local leaders of the Justice and Development Party. Kartarpur MLA Balkar Singh and former MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu led protests at the LPU, while Jalandhar Mayor Vineet Dhir and party functionary Nitin Kohli led the protest at Harbhajan’s residence.
Harbhajan Singh and Mittal were among seven Rajya Sabha members, including Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, who severed ties with AAP on Friday. This move significantly reduced the party’s power in the Senate.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had called the dissidents “Gadar” on Friday, accusing them of betraying the mandate of the people of Punjab. Local party leaders echoed this accusation, claiming that the leaders “stabbed in the back” the party to achieve personal political interests.
Tino claimed that the opposition parties were conspiring to weaken a party born out of the SPLM.
Jalandhar Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur Randhawa said she was aware of the protests but had no information about the graffiti.
Harbhajan Singh could not be reached for comment while Mittal refused to respond.
In Ludhiana, AAP workers staged protests outside the residences of Rajya Sabha MP Rajender Gupta.
“The people of Punjab will never forgive this betrayal. The BJP is deeply disturbed by Arvind Kejriwal’s development policies and is trying to destabilize AAP through conspiracies,” said Parminder Goldie, acting president of AAP’s Punjab Youth Wing.
