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Day after quitting AAP, Bathinda Rural MLA Ruby joins Congress
Ruby was welcomed into the Congress fold by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu
A day after quitting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bathinda Rural MLA Rupinder Kaur Ruby on Wednesday joined the ruling Congress in Punjab.
Ruby was welcomed into the Congress fold by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu at a press conference here. All India Congress Committee secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Chaudhary and finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, the Congress MLA from Bathinda Urban, were also present.
The 33-year-old first-time legislator’s exit is being seen as a setback for the AAP in the Malwa region of the state in the run-up to the assembly elections early next year. The AAP had won most of its 20 seats in Malwa in the 2017 state polls. Ruby said that she had joined the AAP to serve the people, but decided to leave the party as there was a difference in what its leaders say and what they do. “After seeing Arvind Kejriwal and his party’s policies, I felt that they would work for the aam aadmi (common man) but you get to know the reality after you join the party,” she told reporters in her first remarks after switching sides.
On joining the Congress, Ruby said she was impressed with the party’s ideology. “The Congress is the asli aam aadmi party and is headed by a woman leader,” said the MLA, praising the Channi government for decisions taken for welfare of the people in such a short span. Asked if she has resigned from the membership of the state assembly, Ruby said: “She will meet the (Punjab assembly) speaker and whatever is required under the rules.”
Sidhu, while welcoming Ruby into the Congress, said that she will be given due respect in the party. Channi said she aspired to work for the development of Punjab and had chosen the right party.
Earlier, AAP legislature party leader Harpal Singh Cheema, while reacting to her resignation, said Ruby was not going to get the AAP ticket and, therefore, joining the Congress. “Ruby is our younger sister, be happy wherever you go. This time, she had no chance of getting a ticket from the AAP so she is joining the Congress. The Congress is requested not to cheat Ruby and should give her the ticket from Bathinda Rural,” Cheema tweeted.
Hitting back at Cheema, Ruby accused him of not raising his voice for the party leaders or the people of Punjab. “When it was time for you to speak, you did not say anything. You neither raised your voice for the people of Punjab nor for Bhagwant Mann. As for the ticket, you can contest against me,” she tweeted, throwing a challenge to the legislature party chief.
Ruby had announced her resignation from the AAP in a tweet on Tuesday night after having a meeting with Channi and Chaudhary earlier in the day. Last month, she had backed Mann for the party’s chief minister face and was said to be cut up with the leadership over the delay in making the announcement.
So far, four rebel AAP MLAs – Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Jagdev Singh Kamalu, Pirmal Singh Khalsa and Nazar Singh Manshahia – have joined the Congress. While Khaira, Kamalu and Khalsa joined the Congress in June this year, Manshahia jumped ship in April 2019, just days before the parliamentary polls.
