CHANDIGARH: There is growing internal dissent in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after seven sitting MLAs, including a cabinet minister and two former ministers, were dropped from its second list of 31 candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, released on Thursday.
The decision has triggered resentment among several leaders, with some questioning the party leadership’s choices and others threatening to quit.
AAP MLA from Chamkaur Sahib seat Charanjit Singh expressed his resentment over the party's move to ignore him and asserted that he will contest the poll at any cost.
He had emerged as a giant slayer after he defeated former Punjab chief minister and senior Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi by a margin of over 7,900 votes from the seat in the 2022 Assembly elections.
In its second list of candidates, the Aam Aadmi Party named Jasvir Singh Garhi, the former Punjab BSP president and former chairman of the Punjab State Scheduled Caste Commission, as the party's candidate from the Assembly constituency.
Garhi was appointed AAP's halqa in-charge (constituency in-charge) for Chamkaur Sahib in August.
After being replaced, Charanjit Singh said he had done his job honestly and brought many projects for the people of his Assembly constituency. He also questioned the party's choice of Garhi over him, expressing doubt over his ability to register victory from Chamkaur Sahib.
"I am doing my job as an MLA honestly, and there is no allegation or any corruption charge against me. But why has the party done this?" he asked.
Singh said that he never asked the party to give him any ministerial position or anything else. "I've been in the party for more than 12 years. I worked day and night for the people and the organisation. I even sold my house and several properties for the party. I don’t know what shortcomings the leadership found in me that led to this decision,” he said.
"For the past year, I have been seeking an appointment with the chief minister for two minutes regarding a few projects in my constituency. I approached his OSD and IAS in-charge but could not get an appointment. If an MLA does not get time, what can a common man expect?" claimed Singh.
He further said he had sought a meeting with AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. "But two months have passed; he could not get an appointment," he said.
Also, there was resentment in the Rajasansi assembly segment. Rajbir Singh Tolanangal and the party’s organisational in-charge for the constituency quit shortly after the candidate list was announced.
Sukhdeep Singh Chhina, director of the Punjab Dairy Development Board and constituency coordinator of the Nasha Mukti Morcha, also resigned from his position and from the party’s primary membership.
He claimed to have been associated with AAP for 13 years and said several grassroots workers were unhappy with the local leadership.
Another dropped MLA, Amit Rattan Kotfatta from Bathinda Rural segment, said he was consulting supporters before deciding his future political course.
The AAP has replaced him with retired PCS officer Gopal Singh in the reserved constituency.
Kotfatta maintained that the allegations against him had not been proved in court and said he would remain politically active in his constituency.
He was arrested in a corruption case in February 2023. Meanwhile, he questioned what he described as inconsistent standards in candidate selection, pointing to the party’s decision to field former minister Sanjeev Arora despite his arrest in a money-laundering case.
Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, who has been denied renomination from Lambi, said there were indications that the party might field him from another constituency, although he had received no official communication from the leadership.
He had defeated five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi in the 2022 elections. The AAP has now fielded his estranged nephew, Randhir Singh Dhira Khuddian, from the constituency.