In a major setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal resigned from the party and joined the Aam Aadmi Party. He was welcomed into the party by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The 54-year-old Chabbewal, who is a legislator from Chabbewal assembly constituency in Hoshiarpur district, posted on X, "Resigned today from INC and Legislative Assembly Punjab."
"I tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress with immediate effect," wrote Chabbewal in his letter to the Congress president, which he also posted on X. However, he did not reveal any reason for quitting the party.
In another letter to the Punjab Assembly Speaker, which he also posted on X, Chabbewal, the Deputy Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, wrote, "I hereby submit my resignation from membership of legislative assembly, Punjab, with immediate effect".
According to sources, the AAP may field him from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat.
Chabbewal was re-elected from Chabbewal Assembly seat in the 2022 state elections.
The prominent Dalit leader, who comes from Punjab's Doaba region, had also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Hoshiarpur on a Congress ticket but had lost to the BJP's Som Prakash.
Gurpreet Singh GP, a former Congress MLA from Bassi Pathana, had recently joined the AAP.
(With inputs from agencies)
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