CHANDIGARH: AAP’s former Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur is likely to join Awaaze-Punjab, the front to be formally floated by Navjot Sidhu on September 9. More senior AAP leaders are expected to join the front. AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had picked Chhotepur two years back when the party was looking for a suitable Sikh face.Chhotepur had provided the required push for AAP in Punjab but his alleged authoritarian style of functioning is supposed to have irked many in the party.The former minister — known for speaking his mind during the Surjit Singh Barnala ’s government in protest against Operation Black Thunder to flush terrorists out of the Golden Temple — is believed to be in touch with Sidhu. “Chhotepur would take along a good chunk of AAP leaders with him. AAP leaders could have sensed it much before. Party clearly lack understanding in dealing with Punjab politics. A lot will depend how they control their supporters and leaders from falling to opposition party's trap,” political scientist Surinder Shukla said. AAP’s Punjab unit has been hit by rebellion against party in-charge Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak, both from Uttar Pradesh.They were calling the shots so far and credited with building the organisation.However, Pathak and Singh are now being termed as ‘outsiders’. For SAD and its ally BJP, things never looked so smooth, despite the heavy anti-incumbency after remaining in power for more than nine years. “The misdeeds of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi have exposed its real character,” and it is not a force in Punjab politics anymore, BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha, BJP's Punjab in-charge said, adding that the Congress was the main rival of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance.Sidhu’s front launch could make the Punjab elections a four-cornered contest. Emboldened by the support of former Akali leaders Simarjit Singh Bains and former Indian hockey captain Pargat Singh, Sidhu has decided to launch the front, and has ended talks with the AAP.On Monday, Shiromani Akali Dal asked Kejriwal to come clean on charges of ‘sexual exploitation’ of Punjabi women by AAP leaders, while also demanding the immediate dismissal of both Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak from all party posts in Punjab.Stating that Kejriwal could not simply ‘tweet away’ his worries, senior SAD leaders Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Maheshinder Singh Grewal said the Delhi chief minister must explain to Punjabis as to why he had let such ‘acts of moral turpitude’ be conducted under his nose.