Chandigarh, March 28 -- In a double blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its sole sitting MP Sushil Kumar Rinku made headlines on Wednesday by defecting to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - a move that also saw AAP MLA Sheetal Angural crossing party lines. Rinku's switch of allegiance marked a significant turn of events, occurring less than a year after his departure from the Congress and subsequent entry into AAP on April 6 the preceding year, just ahead of the Jalandhar bypoll. Rinku's transition came weeks after the AAP had announced him as its candidate for Jalandhar Lok Sabha polls.
The high-profile defection, coming a day after Congress' sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu joined the saffron brigade, has sent shockwaves through the state's...