Amritsar: Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday suspended its Amritsar North MLA and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh from the party for five years.The decision, taken by the party’s political affairs committee, cited alleged “anti-party activities” as the reason.A vocal critic of his own party’s govt, Vijay Pratap had recently opposed the arrest of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on charges of laundering more than Rs 540 crore of drug money. The vigilance bureau on June 25 arrested Majithia after conducting a raid at his residence in Amritsar.Confirming the suspension of the MLA, who joined AAP in 2021 ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, AAP spokesperson Shashivir Sharma said that the action was taken due to his involvement in “anti-party activities”.Following the announcement, Vijay Partap posted a verse of Gurbani on his X account, which translates to, “Kabir, from death everyone in the world is afraid; but to me, my mind feels bliss.” Despite repeated attempts, the MLA could not be reached for comment.During the 2022 assembly elections, Kunwar Vijay secured 58,133 votes, more than the combined votes of SAD candidate Anil Joshi and Congress nominee Sunil Dutti, and pushing BJP’s Sukhminder Singh Pintu to fourth position.Pawan Kumar, a close aide of Vijay Pratap, said that a large number of the MLA’s followers and sympathisers gathered at his residence after the news broke. Kumar called the party’s decision “unjust and excessively harsh”.The former inspector general of police once headed the SIT probing the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents besides sacrilege cases in the state.Sources said that several aspirants are already lobbying for the Amritsar North ticket for the 2027 polls if Vijay Pratap isn’t reinstated. A few AAP functionaries already approached senior party leaders on Sunday. There’s also speculation that an opposition leader might join AAP and be positioned as Vijay Partap’s replacement in the next election.
