More than two months after resigning from all party posts in protest against appointment of Sunil Jakhar as Punjab BJP chief in July, former BJP MLA from Abohar Arun Narang joined AAP on Wednesday. He was welcomed into the party fold by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh.
After joining AAP, Narang told The Indian Express over the phone that he had already resigned from BJP, around a fortnight ago after he quit all party posts in July. While quitting the party (BJP) posts he had expressed “displeasure with the party high command that many senior workers of the party who had been working for it for the last 40 years were ignored”.
Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, Jakhar on Wednesday said that Narang had conveyed his decision to quit the party when he (Jakhar) had gone to meet him after being appointed as state BJP chief. Jakhar added that he had then conveyed the same message to the party high command. “I wish him the best,” said Jakhar. Narang on Wednesday said that he never had any issues with Jakhar joining BJP, but was opposed to his appointment as state BJP chief.
He said one should have put in at least five to 10 years for the party to be considered for appointment as state BJP chief.
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“But, BJP suddenly developed a liking for leaders who came from outside and ignored those who bore the brunt of the farm agitation,” said Narang, who was thrashed by a group of protesting farmers during the 2020-21 farm agitation on Delhi borders; his clothes were torn and ink was thrown at him by the protesters.
“The top BJP leadership did nothing for the party activists who were at the receiving end of the farm agitation fury,” Narang said, adding that “BJP had deviated from its core ideology, inducting even those leaders who face corruption cases”.
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Narang had won the 2017 Assembly elections from Abohar, after defeating Jakhar, who was the then Congress candidate. Ever since Jakhar joined the BJP, he was angry with the party. CM Mann tweeted that the family of AAP is continuously growing in Punjab. Impressed by the pro-people policies of the AAP government, former Abohar MLA Arun Narang has joined Aam Aadmi Party. He said that Narang’s joining AAP will strengthen the party in Abohar and its surrounding areas.