AAP's lone Punjab MP Rinku defects to BJP, leaves party fuming

Chandigarh, Mar 27 (PTI) In less than a year after joining the AAP, Jalandhar MP Sushil Rinku again jumped ship to come into the BJP fold, giving a setback to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Rinku was named as the AAP candidate from Jalandhar parliamentary seat in the party's first list of candidates.

The AAP's lone Lok Sabha MP joined the BJP on Wednesday along with party MLA from Jalandhar West Sheetal Angural in Delhi.

Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang slammed Rinku for joining the BJP and said he has betrayed people.

"People will teach him a lesson for his betrayal," Kang told PTI.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took a dig at Rinku and Angural for leaving the party and said he is always committed to guard Punjab's glory and honour.

Calling him "traitor", the AAP said Rinku was defeated by people in the Punjab Assembly polls, but the AAP picked him up and made him an MP from Jalandhar.

"Both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann campaigned for him, and helped him get a massive victory. He turned out to be a traitor...but after witnessing his betrayal the people of Jalandhar will completely reject him," said the AAP in a statement.

Rinku quit the Congress to join the AAP on April 5 last year in the presence of Delhi CM Kejriwal and Mann in Jalandhar.

Rinku was fielded from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat in the by-election and won it after defeating Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by a margin of 58,691 votes.

For the past several days, there was speculation that Rinku will join the BJP.

After some reports that Rinku was not happy as his projects which he had promised before the 2023 bypoll were not implemented, Punjab CM Mann had even held a close-door meeting with Rinku on March 19.

After joining the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday, Rinku said, "The promises which were made during the by-election could not be kept as my (AAP) government did not back me. Be it works related to roads, village ponds in Jalandhar, these could not take off." A few days ago, Rinku had even batted for an alliance with the Congress while speaking to a TV channel. The AAP is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab on its own.

Rinku, a Dalit, began his political career as a municipal corporation councillor. He became the MLA on Congress ticket in 2017.

However, he tasted defeat in 2022 assembly polls by AAP candidate Sheetal Angural. PTI