The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) gained more strength in the Ludhiana West by-election. On Saturday, dozens of Congress leaders, workers, and many social activists joined AAP along with their supporters.
Punjab AAP Working President Amansher Singh Shery Kalsi and Cabinet Minister Mohinder Bhagat, in the presence of party leader Dr. Sunny Ahluwalia and local leaders, formally inducted all new members into the party and welcomed them.
Sham Lal Bhagat, Congress Vice President from Ward No. 72, joined the party. Along with him, his associates Devraj Bhagat, Ashwini Bhagat, Ram Bhagat, Jagdish Bhagat, Ravi Bhagat, Vishambhar Bhagat, Rajinder Rinku, Rajkumar Bhagat, Rohit Bhagat, Aman Bhagat, Vasudev Bhagat, and Kishan Bhagat also joined AAP.
Apart from them, Ramesh Bhagat, a leader from the Bhagat community and National President of Shivraj Sena, also joined AAP. He was accompanied by his associates Ravi Bhagat, Kishan Lal Bhagat, Babbu Bhagat, Madan Chahal, Keval Kishan, Arun Jogi, Mohit Bhagat, Shivchand, Sunil Bhagat, Mohit Bhagat and Manjeet Kumar.
Several young leaders and social activists from the city also became part of the AAP family. Notable names include Pankaj Mehta, Piyush Sharma, Harjit Arora, Parminder Singh, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Ketan Aggarwal, Honey Singh Bohat, Sherry Singh Bohat, Suresh Birla, Vicky Eklavya, Vikas, Akshay, Vishal Gopal, Shubham, Sunny Gehlot, Ravi, Rohit Atwal, and Tushar Gaurav.
While addressing the media on this occasion, Shery Kalsi welcomed all the new leaders into the party and said, "Leaders from various parties are continuously joining the Aam Aadmi Party, they are influenced by its policies and work. The massive number of people joining us today will undoubtedly strengthen us in the by-election."
He added that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the AAP government is providing 300 units of free electricity to all households every month without any discrimination. Moreover, substantial reforms are being made in the education and healthcare sectors. Seeing these revolutionary works of the AAP government, opposition parties are scared.
Kalsi said that the BJP and Congress have no agenda to contest the elections. Therefore, they engage in lower level and manipulative politics. He accused the BJP of openly supporting Congress. "Both are working hand in hand because they don't want a third party to emerge in Punjab's politics," he said.
Cabinet Minister Mohinder Bhagat said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is a messiah for the poor. "He has done historic work for the poor, Dalits, and marginalized in the last three years. This is why Punjab's poor and backward communities stand firmly with the Aam Aadmi Party," he said.
AAP Punjab General Secretary Dr. Sunny Ahluwalia took a jibe at the Congress, saying that its leaders keep fighting amongst themselves. "Their candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu is so arrogant that he doesn’t even respect the local MP or his own party’s state president Raja Warring. Last time, people defeated him for his arrogance. This time, too, people will teach him a lesson," he said.