CHANDIGARH: Of the 52 candidates declared by the four major political parties—the AAP, BJP, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)—in Punjab, 15 are defectors. Topping the list is the BJP with seven such candidates, followed by Congress and AAP with three each and SAD with one. Most of the leaders have switched over from Congress.
A leading political analyst, Professor Kuldip Singh, told this newspaper, “Since there was a shortage of candidates in both the BJP and AAP, they ventured out, giving the turncoats a field day, especially with the BJP. In Jalandhar, all the parties have defectors. Most of them are from Congress, which is the oldest political party. The bigger the family, the more likely there is an internal rift. The BJP used to fight on three Lok Sabha seats in alliance with SAD. Now, it is contesting solo and needs candidates. Taking defectors on board is a step to fill the gap.”
Among the turncoats fielded by the BJP are sitting MPs Preneet Kaur from Patiala and Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana. Both ditched Congress to join the saffron party in March this year. Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, an AAP leader and former minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi from Ferozepur was formerly with the Congress.
While Preneet Kaur’s switch was on expected lines as her husband, former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, whom the Congress unceremoniously removed from the post of CM, joined the BJP in September 2022, Bittu joining the BJP came as a surprise.
Sodhi joined the saffron party just ahead of the 2022 assembly polls as he was the sports minister in the Amarinder Singh-led cabinet, and he has been fielded from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat. Also, three-time former SAD MLA Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind, who joined the BJP in January 2022, has been fielded from Khadoor Sahib.
‘In Jalandhar, all parties have defectors’
According to political analyst Kuldip Singh, “Since there was a shortage of candidates in both the BJP and AAP, they gave the turncoats a field day, especially the BJP. In Jalandhar, all the parties have defectors. Most of them are from the Congress, which is the oldest political party. The bigger the family, the more likely there is an internal rift.”
Rinku is the most conspicuous party-hopper, as he changed parties twice. He was the Congress MLA from Jalandhar (West) in 2017 and joined AAP in April last year ahead of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-poll, becoming the lone MP of the party. He switched to the BJP in March this year.
Meanwhile, former Congress leader Gejja Ram Valmiki, who joined BJP in 2022, was given a ticket by Fategarh Sahib. Also, Arvind Khanna, who joined the BJP, has been fielded from Sangrur. The BJP is fighting these polls solo this time.