AAP, BJP bet on turncoats for Jalandhar (West) battle
Aparna Banerji
Jalandhar, June 17
The Aam Aadmi Party has chosen former BJP leader Mohinder Bhagat as its candidate for the Jalandhar (West) bypoll. He is also the AAP Jalandhar (West) in-charge.
The BJP has fielded former Jalandhar West AAP MLA Sheetal Angural who, along with former AAP MP Sushil Rinku, had joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll held recently.
About the constituency
- Jalandhar (West) seat was won by BJP candidate Chuni Lal Bhagat in 1997, 2007 and 2012
- In 2017, then Congress leader Sushil Rinku emerged victorious, defeating BJP’s Mohinder Bhagat
- In 2022, the seat had gone to AAP’s Sheetal Angural
The bypoll had been necessitated after the acceptance of Angural’s resignation as MLA from the seat on May 30 this year. Angural had submitted his resignation as an MLA in March but later urged Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan not to consider it but his plea was rejected. The Congress is yet to announce its nominee.
Angural started his political journey with the BJP and shifted to AAP ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections which he contested on the seat, securing a win by 4,253 votes over then bete noire (now friend) Sushil Rinku.
Angural had remained among the most controversial MLAs of AAP in Jalandhar. He has always been in limelight due to a slew of cases against him, his feud with Rinku and the suspense over his MLA status from the seat due to his resignation.
While he was formerly a BJP leader, the Jalandhar (West) bypoll will be his first test as the BJP candidate. His selection for the bypoll has been backed strongly by Rinku, who also recently charged AAP of planning to register cases against Angural.
Mohinder Bhagat had shifted to AAP last year in defiance of his father and BJP leader and former minister Chuni Lal Bhagat, leaving his party shocked. Jalandhar (North), (Central) and Jalandhar (West), the three urban seats, have been deemed the traditional BJP strongholds.
Silently working for AAP for a year, AAP hopes to cash in on Mohinder Bhagat’s goodwill, clean image and significant influence among the Bhagat community in the constituency to reclaim the seat.
