Double blow to AAP: Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, MLA Sheetal Angural join BJP

In a major setback to the AAP, its Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku and the party's MLA from Jalandhar West Sheetal Angural joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri welcomed Sushil Kumar Rinku and Sheetal Angural to the BJP. "The situation is changing in Punjab and we all will work together to make India developed by 2047," he said.

Sushil Kumar Rinku bagged the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat after defeating Congress leader Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by nearly 60,000 votes in the by-election in 2023. In 2019, Congress' Santokh Singh Chaudhary defeated Akali Dal's Charanjit Singh Atwal by nearly 20,000 votes. 

After joining the BJP, Rinku said it was true that the promises he made to the people of Jalandhar were not fulfilled because the AAP did not support him. "I am impressed with the working style of PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah."

"I have taken this decision for the development of Jalandhar. We will take Jalandhar forward. We will bring all the projects of the Central Government to Jalandhar," Rinku said. 

Sheetal Angural, who also joined the saffron party with Rinku, had won the Jalandhar West assembly seat by defeating then Congress leader Sushil Kumar Rinku