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Days ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi, eight sitting MLAs, who resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.
The MLAs Vandana Gaur from Palam, Rohit Mehraulia from Trilokpuri, Girish Soni, Madan Lal from Kasturba Nagar, Rajesh Rishi from Janakpuri, Bhupender Singh June from Bijwasan, Naresh Yadav from Mehrauli and Pawan Sharma from Adarsh Nagar joined BJP in the presence of party's Delhi unity Virendraa Sachdeva and election in-charge Baijayant Panda. The MLAs submitted their resignation letters to former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday after being denied tickets to the contest Delhi assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held on February 5. Earlier, the MLAs on Friday said that AAP has moved away from its original ideology of 'honesty' and its leadership has been tainted into several cases of 'corruption'. The leaders cited different concerns, ranging from 'ideological shifts' to 'corruption' and 'mismanagement' within the party. Notably, the resignations come just days ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections. Bhupinder Singh Joon, while tendering his resignation, told ANI, "There is no pressure on us, candidate list came on 9th December and today is 31st January, so amid this, we thought about this and accessed." Similarly, Madan Lal explained his decision to quit the party expressing disappointment over ticket distribution for the upcoming polls. "Don't feel like working in this party, this is the biggest reason, we thought about it so many times, even though we did not get tickets, we stayed at the party for over 1 and half months but those people to whom the party gave tickets, their performance, party's performance, it feels like party made a mistake... the party is moving away from its ideologies...," Lal said. Rohit Kumar also expressed his disappointment, stating that the party has not lived up to its promises, and AAP has nothing but "fake assurances". "I reached this conclusion with a lot of pain and sorrow, along with my colleagues...we were associated with AAP since the agitation time and many of our colleagues are old members, who set up the party...we joined the party with a hope that this party will do clean politics and stand against corruption.., I have to say with a lot of pain that we have got nothing but fake assurances," he said. Rajesh Rishi pointed to the controversy surrounding AAP MP Swati Maliwal, alleging that she was assaulted by Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at the former CM's residence. "Swati Maliwal is our MP...she was assaulted by Bibhav Kumar at his (Arvind Kejriwal) residence...she was tortured at his residence...Arvind Kejriwal is behaving like a Hitler now, he changed the Constitution of the party, earlier Convener used to be for 2 years and now he has become Convener forever," he told ANI. Vandana Gaur, meanwhile, emphasized that she is not upset about being denied a ticket but is disillusioned with the leadership. "I want to say that I am not angry (over not getting a ticket), I know the reality...I have served the people of Palam and I am not upset regarding this." The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled to take place on February 5, while counting of votes will be held on February 8. (ANI)
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