Several BJP and Congress leaders from Haryana on Monday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) here after its stupendous victory in the Punjab Assembly polls.
The BJP's former Gurugram MLA Umesh Agarwal and ex-minister and senior Congress leader Bijendra Singh are among those who joined the AAP, the party said.
INLD leader and former Haryana minister Balbir Singh Saini also joined the AAP at the party headquarters, it said.
Other leaders from Haryana who joined the AAP are former Samalkha MLA (Independent) Ravindra Kumar, Jagat Singh (Congress), Ashok Mittal (BSP), Amandeep Singh Waraich (BJP), Brahm Singh Gurjar (BJP), Sardar Gurlal Singh (a sarpanch in Haryana).
They joined the AAP in the presence of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, party Rajya Sabha MPs Sushil Gupta and N D Gupta, and national secretary Pankaj Gupta.
"After the Punjab elections, people across the country are feeling a need for change. Haryana, which is placed between Delhi and Punjab, also wants change.
"Like Delhi, Punjab has chosen work-oriented politics, leaving aside the politics of religion and caste. The Aam Aadmi Party is expanding exponentially in Haryana," AAP MP Sushil Gupta told reporters.
Welcoming the new joinees into the AAP, Jain said it is a matter of "great delight" that "prominent leaders" who have been MLAs and ministers in Haryana are joining the family of the party.
"After Punjab and Delhi, people in Haryana are saying that elections should be held soon in Haryana so that the Aam Aadmi Party can form the government. After Punjab and Delhi, this change will move ahead throughout India," he said.
Jain said the AAP is committed to replacing the politics of hate with that of work.
"In Delhi, we have shown that when you have the will, you can easily make the impossible possible," he said.
