Harbhajan accuses AAP of ‘selling’ Rajya Sabha seats after BJP switch-hits back at ‘traitor’ jibes

PT News New Delhi, May 22

Former cricketer-turned-Rajya Sabha member Harbhajan Singh stunned the Aam Aadmi Party and stirred Punjab’s political pot by accusing AAP of “selling” Rajya Sabha tickets.

Responding to constant trolling by AAP and protests outside his Jalandhar home, Harbhajan Singh, aka Bhajji, said today: “To those calling me a traitor, first ask your own people how much the Punjab Rajya Sabha seat was sold for. If they don’t tell you, I’ll tell you who took how much in bribes and from whom.” Harbhajan is among seven Rajya Sabha members elected by AAP who joined BJP last month. Since then, he has faced criticism from AAP, with protests outside his house and “traitor” painted on its walls. Bhajji’s remarks came in response to a tweet by AAP leader Devinder Yadav, who called him a traitor and asked why he had not resigned from the Rajya Sabha if he was criticising the party that made him an MP. “Why didn’t you resign from the Rajya Sabha seat he gave you? Joining BJP, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 800 farmers from Punjab — what kind of compulsion was that for you? How much did you price your con-science at? I heard BJP bid Rs 25 crore each for traitors. Is that true?” Yadav wrote.

Replying to him, Bhajji said, “When the time comes, every word of yours will be answered. I haven’t insulted any of your leaders. Why should I dirty my tongue? To those calling me a traitor, first ask your own people how much the Punjab Rajya Sabha seat was sold for. If they don’t tell you, I’ll tell you who took what bribe and from whom, and how someone was made a minis-ter or a pawn to loot Punjab and deliver benefits to ‘Lala’. Punjab has been loot-ed and devoured,” he alleged. Bhajji added, “It was the political party that burned my effigy outside my house and wrote ‘traitor’ on it. Common people don’t do such things.