Kotkapura, August 19, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Taksali Akali leader and national president of the All India Tank Kshatriya Pratinidhi Sabha, Sharanjeet Singh Mookar, along with several associates, on Wednesday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), citing the leadership style of Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and the state government’s policies as key reasons for his decision.
Mookar, whose family is known for its longstanding association with the Shiromani Akali Dal, had remained actively involved with the party for a long period. Welcoming him and other prominent personalities at his local office, Speaker Sandhwan said they would be accorded due respect and recognition in the AAP.
Mookar and his associates praised Sandhwan’s humility, accessibility and cordial approach, saying they had been interested in politics for more than five decades but had not previously experienced what they described as this kind of “politics of change”.
Niranjan Singh Rakhra praised the AAP government’s campaign against drugs and corruption as well as its pilgrimage scheme for senior citizens. Major Singh Sidhu highlighted the government’s claims regarding canal water reaching tail-end areas, free power, free bus travel for women, the Mothers-Daughters Honour Scheme, the Gurbani Sodhan Satkar Act and the recruitment of more than 70,000 people without bribery or recommendations.
Sidhu said these achievements could help AAP secure another term in government, according to the statement.
Mookar and his associates also praised Sandhwan, claiming that despite holding considerable political power, there had been no instance of him using it to victimise anyone. They said this had contributed to people feeling comfortable associating with him.
Sandhwan welcomed the new entrants and said the AAP government neither believed in vendetta politics nor discrimination. He claimed that grants worth crores of rupees had been distributed among villages in the Kotkapura Assembly constituency and different municipal wards without political considerations or factionalism.
He further claimed that AAP candidates won 90 per cent of the sarpanch positions and 75 per cent of councillor seats in the local panchayat and municipal council elections, respectively, and that no instance of coercion had come to light.
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