In a twin setback for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, the party lost its Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku and Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural on Wednesday. Both leaders joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of its Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar and national general secretary Vinod Tawde.

The development came after the AAP had declared Rinku as its candidate from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2023 in a bypoll from the seat.

This comes a day after Ravneet Bittu, a Congress MP from Ludhiana, also joined the BJP. The BJP, ruling out any alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal, announced yesterday that it would contest the Lok Sabha elections alone in the state.

Lok Sabha elections will be held in in a single phase in the 13 seats in the state on June 1, the last phase of polling while the results will be declared on June 4.