Jolt to AAP as 7 MLAs quit party

In a major jolt to the AAP less than a week ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, seven MLAs have resigned from the party.

The MLAs who stepped down from their posts are Bhawna Gaur from Palam, Naresh Yadav from Mehrauli, Rajesh Rishi from Janakpuri, Madan Lal from Kasturba Nagar, Rohit Mehrauliya from Trilokpuri, Bhupinder Singh Joon from Bijawasan, and Pawan Sharma from Adarsh Nagar. They were allegedly disgruntled after being denied tickets for the February 5 Assembly poll.

The AAP, in a statement, said for the past few weeks, BJP members have been constantly approaching party MLAs who didn’t get tickets this time, luring them with various offers such as promising positions, power and incentives.

“Kejriwal’s true soldiers will stand with AAP till their last breath because they didn’t enter politics for positions like MLA, councillor or minister. They joined to serve the nation, no matter what role they are given,” the AAP said.

Interestingly, some of the MLAs who have quit the party had also earlier this month sought time from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to meet him personally. Whether their request was entertained is yet to be known.

Notably, most of the MLAs in their resignation letter have cited that they “lost faith” in the party over its leaders involvement in multiple corruption scandals.

“I joined the AAP for honesty. Today, I can’t see that honesty anywhere. I spoke to several people of my Mehrauli constituency. Most of them said the AAP is completely embroiled in corruption,” Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav’s resignation letter read.

In December last year, Yadav was sentenced to two years in prison in the 2016 Quran desecration case by a court in Punjab’s Malerkotla. Following his conviction, Yadav had on December 20 himself posted on X that he had requested AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal not to give him a ticket for the Assembly poll.

“I will not contest elections until I am honorably acquitted. I am completely innocent and the allegations levelled against me are politically motivated and false. So, I have requested them to free me from contesting the elections,” Yadav had posted on X on December 20.

Bijawasan MLA Joon said he took the decision after witnessing a significant deviation from the values and principles on which the party was founded.

“AAP was envisioned as a transparent, people-centric organisation committed to eradicating corruption and fostering ethical governance. However, over time, the party has increasingly exhibited traits of centralisation, opacity and a lack of internal democracy,” Joon stated.

He said the party initially took a strong stand against giving tickets or membership to individuals with criminal backgrounds. However, it has now chosen to field a candidate from Bijwasan AC-36 who has several serious criminal cases registered against him, including offences of moral turpitude.