Setback to AAP on MCD byelection eve

In a major setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the eve of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bypolls, its two-time former MLA Rajesh Gupta joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Saturday.

Gupta was inducted into the BJP in the presence of Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, MLA Rajkumar Bhatia and other party leaders.

Gupta got emotional while recounting his decade-long association with the AAP. He alleged that the party leadership mistreated him and ignored his concerns. He even broke down in tears.

Welcoming him into the partyfold, Sachdeva said: “Gupta had created a distinct identity as an MLA, but was not valued by Arvind Kejriwal.”

Sachdeva alleged that the AAP had left behind 12 years of administrative burden for the new government and accused senior AAP leaders of abandoning Delhi, likening their exit to Aurangzeb plundering the city and fleeing.

Gupta accused the AAP of sidelining workers and abandoning its core principles, claiming he was denied a hearing despite years of service. He also criticised AAP’s choice of candidate in the Ashok Vihar ward for the byelections.

AAP Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj said Gupta left the party after his wife was denied a ticket for the MCD bypolls. The party had decided to field only grassroots workers in the byelections.

Bharadwaj said Gupta fielded his wife as an independent candidate in Ashok Vihar after the denial and later shared internal matters outside the party. “We still extended him well wishes,” he said.

Cop campaigning for BJP candidate: AAP

The AAP on Saturday claimed that the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Shalimar Bagh police station is campaigning for BJP’s candidate in Dakshinpuri and termed it a direct assault on the integrity of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) byelections.

Sharing a video on X, AAP Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj wrote, “The officer in the video is SHO Rampal, who until recently was posted in Dakshinpuri, and is now roaming around with the BJP candidate of the Dakshinpuri ward and threatening poor residents that they will be ‘taught a lesson’ if they do not vote for the BJP.”

Calling the incident a breach of electoral neutrality, Bharadwaj questioned the silence of the authorities, stating, “Can a police officer from CM Rekha Gupta’s own area openly campaign for the BJP like this? Will the Delhi Police and the Chief Electoral Officer of the Delhi Election Commission suspend him?”