Chandigarh, May 12 -- Gian Singh Mann, the first cousin of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chandigarh on Monday. The defection marks a complete reversal for Gian Singh, who was previously a supporter of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a key figure in his cousin's local political machinery. The induction took place at the state BJP headquarters in Sector 37, Chandigarh, in the presence of Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar. Gian Singh shares both maternal and paternal ties with the chief minister and belongs to their ancestral village of Satoj in Sangrur district. During Bhagwant Mann's tenure as the member of Parliament from Sangrur between 2014 and 2022, Gian Singh was an active presence on the ground, later playing a proactive role in the campaigning efforts that led to the AAP's landslide victory in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections. However, his shift to the BJP follows a period of strained ties with the chief minister during which he became a vocal critic of the AAP's governance style. By welcoming a member of the chief minister's immediate family, the BJP aims to bolster its narrative of internal discontent within the AAP's core bastions as Punjab heads for assembly elections early next year. After joining the BJP, Gian Singh said the AAP had deviated from its policies. "Earlier, it said it would follow the path shown by Dr BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh, but since forming the government in 2022, it has been doing exactly the opposite. I had joined the AAP for the welfare of Punjab, but the party is destroying Punjab," Gian Singh alleged. Barnala-based businessman and NRI Baljinder Singh Barnala, as well as Manjinder Singh Sajan Khera, former personal assistant to Jalalabad MLA Goldy Kamboj, and AAP's Arniwala Johl in-charge also joined the BJP in presence of Saini....