SAMANA, MAY 16 — Former Cabinet Minister and senior regional politician Surjit Singh Rakhra formally transitioned into the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday during a well-attended public gathering, marking a notable realignment in the state’s political landscape.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann traveled to the venue to personally oversee the induction ceremony, welcoming Rakhra alongside his family members and a substantial contingent of regional supporters. The administration characterized the development as a significant step toward integrating experienced leadership into the party’s governance framework.
“A clean and respected personality dedicated to public service has joined the AAP family,” Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann stated. “Surjit Singh Rakhra had every opportunity to focus on expanding his business and personal interests, but he chose the path of serving common people.”
The Chief Minister asserted that the veteran politician’s departure from his previous organization shows a broader structural fragmentation within traditional regional parties, which he maintained have lost their grounding with ordinary citizens over unresolved historical and religious matters.
“Surjit Singh Rakhra repeatedly tried to reform the Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit) from within, but the party had gone astray and fallen into the wrong hands,” Mann declared.
Addressing the convention, Rakhra stated that his decision to join the ruling party was a principled response to recent legislative milestones concerning regional religious sentiments, particularly the implementation of rigorous legal protections against sacrilege.
“My decision to leave the Shiromani Akali Dal was directly linked to the issue of ‘beadbi’ and the newly enacted anti-beadbi law,” Rakhra affirmed. He added that the administration’s parallel efforts to expand rural canal water infrastructure and arrest the decline of Punjab’s water table further motivated his alignment with the government’s long-term agricultural agenda.
