Sushil Kumar Rinku was the only AAP MP in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
New Delhi:
AAP’s only Lok Sabha member Sushil Kumar Rinku today joined the BJP. The move was accompanied by Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural also joining the BJP ranks at the party headquarters in Delhi.
Mr Rinku emerged victorious in the 2023 Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election, achieving a landslide victory. According to sources, Mr Rinku will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections under the banner of the BJP.
The 2022 Punjab Assembly elections pitted Mr Rinku and Mr Angural against each other for the Jalandhar West seat. Mr Angural won the seat on an AAP ticket against Mr Rinku, then a Congress candidate. Mr Rinku switched to the AAP in 2023.
Mr Rinku was the only AAP MP in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The MP said he had joined the BJP for the development of Punjab, especially in Jalandhar, and leveled allegations against the AAP-led state government for its alleged negligence in facilitating development projects.
“I’m not hungry for power. I am doing a new experiment for the betterment of Jalandhar,” said Mr Rinku as quoted by news agency PTI.
On Tuesday, Ludhiana MP and Congress leader Ravneet Singh Bittu also joined the BJP. Mr Bittu is the grandson of Beant Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjab, known for his key role in the state’s anti-terrorism campaign. He was assassinated in a terrorist attack while still in office.
The elections to the thirteen Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will take place on June 1, the seventh and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.