AAP candidate from Ferozepur resigns, joins Congress

Hours after quitting as the Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Ferozepur (Rural) constituency in Punjab on Monday, Ashu Bangar was inducted into the Congress by party Chief Minister Charanjit Channi.

Channi in Chandigarh announced that Bangar would be party's candidate from the Ferozepur (Rural) seat as he is young with dreams to serve society.

Earlier, poll debutant Bangar told the media in Ferozepur that he was being "humiliated and pressurised" by the AAP leadership to spend more on electioneering.

He alleged AAP is being run like a private company by leaders from Delhi. "Candidates are pressurised with threats that their ticket would be cancelled, so no one speaks up."

He said AAP was functioning like a private company under state in-charge Raghav Chadha, "who was behaving like a dictator and mentally torturing AAP volunteers". "All decisions are being taken from Delhi without taking local Punjabis taken into confidence."

He also took objection to the AAP's charge that Balbir Singh Rajewal-led Samyukt Samaj Morcha is in league with the BJP.

He said people were angry with Chadha over his remarks against farmers when they refused to support the AAP.

Responding to Bangar's allegations against AAP, Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba, in a video message, said: "History repeats itself once again. In 2017, similar allegations were made against AAP and Punjabis never forgave them. It shows that only faces have changed but their modus operandi remains the same."

Refuting Bangar's allegations, Chadha said: "There is a conspiracy to hurt the AAP and I'm told that a senior leader of the Congress had called up the Ferozepur candidate and put pressure on him to quit the party."

Punjab will go to the polls in a single phase for the 117-member assembly on February 20.