Retired Major, ex-AAP leader Poonia joins BJP

New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Major (retd.) Surendra Poonia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of senior leaders J.P. Nadda and Ram Lal, here on Saturday.

A graduate from the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune, Major Poonia is a former Special Forces officer of the Indian Army. He is also an international award-winning athlete and founder of the Soldierathon, a special marathon instituted to commemorate the country's martyrs. 

He is a resident of Sikar in Rajasthan, from where he unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on the AAP ticket. In 2015, he resigned from the AAP citing ideological differences with party chief Arvind Kejriwal.