A new political row has broken out in Punjab after AAP MLA Narinder Kaur Bharaj alleged that Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s office contacted her with an offer to join the BJP ahead of the 2027 elections. Saini has dismissed the allegation as “politically motivated” and “baseless”.
What Narinder Kaur Bharaj says happened
Speaking at a press conference at the AAP office, Bharaj, the MLA from Sangrur, said she was approached for a “closed-door meeting”. She claimed the message suggested she could be projected as the BJP candidate from her constituency in 2027.
Bharaj also alleged the outreach included assurances that her “other needs” would be taken care of. She did not publicly name the person who contacted her, but linked the outreach to the Haryana Chief Minister’s office.
AAP revives the Operation Lotus charge
Senior AAP spokesperson Baltej Pannu framed the allegation as part of “Operation Lotus”, a term used by opposition parties to describe attempts to engineer defections through inducements. He claimed the BJP was trying to poach AAP legislators.
Pannu said the party had faced repeated efforts of this kind. However, he insisted that “not a single AAP MLA” had yielded to pressure or temptation.
Haryana Chief Minister Saini flatly denies it
Reacting to the claim, Nayab Singh Saini rejected the allegation in strong terms. He said he neither knows Bharaj personally nor is familiar with her constituency.
He also called such charges unfortunate in a democracy. Saini added that voters would judge the parties, and pointed to similar allegations raised earlier in Delhi, saying the electorate had “voted them out”.
Old allegations resurface from 2022
The latest claim has brought back memories of September 2022. At the time, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema accused the BJP of offering large sums to AAP MLAs in an attempt to destabilise the Punjab government.
An FIR was registered in Mohali after a complaint by AAP leaders. Since then, the matter has seen little visible movement, with no major public breakthrough in the investigation.
A former AAP MLA now in BJP hits back
Former AAP MLA Sheetal Angural, now a BJP leader, has accused AAP of repeating an old script. Angural was among the complainants during the 2022 Operation Lotus episode.
At a press conference in Jalandhar, he claimed AAP had previously created a “misunderstanding” and used him as a face of the controversy to target the BJP. He alleged the party is again using the same narrative to malign the BJP, arguing it has few political issues left as its hold over Punjab weakens.
BJP’s Haryana unit calls it a recycled script
The Haryana unit of the BJP also weighed in on X. It said AAP had tried the “same script” in Delhi, and claimed “the politics of lies and drama doesn’t last long”.
For now, the controversy rests on competing claims. AAP says its MLA was targeted for defection. The BJP and Haryana’s chief minister deny any outreach. With Punjab politics already gearing up for 2027, the accusations are likely to keep simmering.