Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party staged a protest outside the residence of Harbhajan Singh in Jalandhar, a day after he and six other MPs left the party and aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party. During the demonstration, protesters spray-painted the word “gaddar” (traitor) on the walls of his bungalow and gathered outside wearing black blindfolds as a mark of protest. Singh, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2022, was reportedly not present at the residence at the time.
The protest followed a major political development in which Raghav Chadha announced his exit from the AAP after a long association and confirmed that he, along with six other Rajya Sabha MPs, would join the BJP. The move came shortly after Chadha was removed as the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, and it has triggered a broader political confrontation.
While Chadha, along with Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, formally joined the BJP in the presence of party leadership, including Nitin Nabin, others such as Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta, and Vikramjit Sahney are expected to complete the process soon.
The reaction from AAP leadership has been sharp. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann described the departing MPs as “traitors” and accused the BJP of attempting to destabilise the party and mislead the people of Punjab.
Sources indicated that the formal merger of the seven MPs into the BJP parliamentary party is likely to be approved, with procedural requirements already completed and awaiting clearance from the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
The developments have intensified political tensions ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, with both sides framing the episode as either a betrayal of mandate or a reflection of internal issues within the AAP.
