Chandigarh, May 10
The political temperature in Punjab has clearly spiked. With BJP activists demanding the resignation of Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora and Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on “moral grounds,” the streets have become the new battleground. Reports of clashes between BJP and AAP workers in Ludhiana, Bathinda and other districts underscore how volatile the situation has become.
According to the information, what began as a protest over the arrest of an AAP minister spiraled into chaos, as BJP and AAP activists clashed head‑on in a volatile showdown across Punjab. The confrontation quickly turned violent, forcing police into an immediate security response to contain the situation.
In Bathinda, BJP workers led by former MLA and district president Sarup Chand Singla raised fiery slogans against the AAP government, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora. AAP supporters retaliated with chants against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the BJP of working against Punjab’s interests. The protest drew heavyweight presence from the ruling party, with MLAs Jagroop Singh Gill, Balkar Sidhu, Jagsir Singh and Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana joining in, alongside former Mayor Padamjeet Mehta, Bathinda Lok Sabha in‑charge Navdeep Jeeda, and district president Jatinder Bhalla.
A heavy police deployment blanketed the area, as personnel struggled to keep tempers in check outside the BJP office. The standoff came against the backdrop of AAP’s statewide call for demonstrations outside BJP offices in every district, escalating the confrontation into a full‑blown political flashpoint.
This confrontation is not just about individual resignations—it reflects the deepening hostility between the ruling AAP and the BJP, especially after the recent wave of defections in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP is trying to project AAP’s leadership as morally compromised, while AAP is framing these demands and clashes as politically motivated attempts to destabilize its government ahead of the Assembly elections.
