CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: An internal wrangling within Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has begun over mishandling of Punjab Police over the lack of trust and faith in Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav after back-to-back embarrassing incidents involving attack on an Army officer, arrest of female constable for possessing drugs and leakage of audio clip involving an IPS officer and a female escort.
Sources in AAP said that discontentment grew when Yadav allegedly made some loose remarks on AAP’s weakening grip in Punjab after Lok Sabha election debacle and began posting his confidantes to cement his own position, by passing top party leadership both in Delhi and Punjab.
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The recent case involved on Sunday, when hours after Yadav posted his close aide Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh with a dual charge as AIG (NRI) Jalandhar and Commandant, ISTC in Kapurthala, the orders were withdrawn by the government.
Khakh was earlier posted in Jalandhar as SSP (rural).
Khakh had enjoyed plum postings alongside Yadav during previous Congress governments and Akali Dal, while they maintained close-knit relation with then CM Capt Amarinder aide Bharat Inder chahal and also with then Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Badal.
Multiple power centres in Punjab with recent appointment of Manish Sisodia and replacement of his predecessor Jarnail Singh, along with Satyendra Jain, have added chaos to already an expansive party league in the state.
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Sources in AAP said that the party is worried that more than 22 MLAs, from Doaba and Majha regions, could be in direct touch with Congress amid the sinking fortunes of the party in Delhi and may gravitate towards Congress by early, 2026 over the widening gap between Mann and rest of the party.
“The meeting of Punjab MLAs at the national capital’s Kapurthala House was the first indication. Intelligence unit of Punjab has been providing direct inputs to Mann on discontentment over the past 2-3 months that resulted in considered approach to handle farmer crisis which was planted by some party insiders,” said a senior party leader in Punjab.
Sources in party said though party already has less hopes from Mann on his control over the state considering AAP could barely win three out of 13 seats in Punjab in 2024 Lok Sabha elections despite coming to power with an overwhelming majority only two years ago, leading to a change of guard with two-time Sunam MLA Aman Arora, a Hindu-face as party’s state president.
Congress had bettered its performance in Punjab with seven wins, as compared to 2019 tally, both in Malwa and Majha regions.
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Yadav’s grip in Punjab Police has added anxiety on managing law and order as well as the handling of human resources in 20-plus districts.
It is unclear if AAP may use its supremo Arvind Kejriwal and senior leaders like Sanjay Singh for making frequent tours to Punjab to take valuable inputs to control dissent.
