Arvind Kejriwal to meet Punjab AAP MLAs amid murmurs over exodus after Delhi exit

Kejriwal called the meeting on Tuesday after several Congress leaders from the state claimed over 30 AAP Punjab MLAs were in touch with the grand old party.

Leader of Opposition in Punjab and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa told India Today, "See, you have quoted R.P Singh. I too even do not know from where this figure has come in. You only told me it is RP Singh who said that, so I have just endorsed what you have said. I've had no kind of a talk with RP Singh."

On further insistence, Bajwa said, "Not one or two, more than 30. And they have been in touch with me for almost a year now. They are willing to leave these people."

AAP, the party which was born in Delhi out of an anti-corruption movement, stormed into power in Punjab in 2022 ousting the Congress with a massive number of seats.

The party with a national ambition had won 92 out of 117 seats to dethrone the Congress from power in Punjab.

Last Saturday, the AAP's expansion plans received a massive jolt after it was voted out of power in its stronghold national capital where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power for the first time in the 21st century.

The BJP was voted out of power in 1998 by the Congress, which preceded AAP's dominance in the city where several powers rest with the central government.

The AAP, which had won 62 out of 70 seats in Delhi in 2020, tanked to 22 in the February 5 elections while the BJP bagged 48 seats in a battle which was almost between former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The extent of AAP's Delhi defeat was such that all its top leaders except erstwhile Chief Minister Atishi were defeated from their respective seats.