'Gaddar' sprayed on walls of Harbhajan Singh's house day after BJP switch

Aam Aadmi Party workers on Saturday protested outside cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh’s residence, a day after he, along with six other MPs, quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The protesters sprayed the word “gaddar” (traitor) in black paint on the compound walls of his bungalow, while several party workers staged a protest outside his Jalandhar residence wearing black blindfolds.

The cricketer-turned-politician, elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2022, was reportedly not at his residence during the protest.

In a major setback to the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Friday announced his exit after 15 years and said he would join the BJP along with six other parliamentarians. The move came weeks after he was removed as AAP’s Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, triggering a rift within the party.

While Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak joined the BJP in the presence of party chief Nitin Nabin later in the day, the former cricketer, along with Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Sahney, are expected to join the party in the near future.

The protest against Singh came a day after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann described the seven MPs who quit the party as “gaddars” (traitors). Addressing a press conference, Mann also alleged that the BJP was trying to break the AAP and had “betrayed the people of Punjab.”

Meanwhile, the process of merger involving the seven Rajya Sabha MPs of the AAP is likely to be completed by Saturday, sources said. According to them, the Rajya Sabha Chairman may approve the group’s merger into the BJP parliamentary party, with all formalities already completed.

Friday’s developments are expected to provide ammunition to opposition parties as Punjab heads towards the 2027 Assembly elections.