Monday began on a wobbly note for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab with its suspended MLA and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigning as a legislator, becoming the third MLA to do so over the last two days.
Earlier on Sunday, Singh had hit out at AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, asserting that the party had strayed from its founding ideals. The resignation comes close on the heels of two AAP legislators – Chetan Singh Jouramajra from Samana and Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra from Sanour in Punjab’s Patiala district — resigning from the party’s primary membership on Sunday. Singh, who is the MLA from the Amritsar North seat, sent his resignation to Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan. Singh remained a vocal critic of the AAP government over many issues.
Singh had also been critical of the Bhagwant Mann government following the death of more than 20 people due to toxic liquor consumption in Amritsar last year. He was part of the Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT), which probed the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan policing-firing incidents.
He said “we must all unite in a collective effort to rise above the politics of lanes and ribbon-cutting, and transform Punjab – trapped by drugs, extortion, gangsterism, and corruption – back into a progressive and beloved state”.
