AAP leaders join BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Anshita Mehra

New Delhi, January 29

Key figures from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress have changed sides and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Virendra Jain, president of AAP in the East Delhi parliamentary constituency, was among the prominent leaders who joined the BJP.

Other popular names included Ashok Kumar Aggarwal, leader of the AAP business cell, Prince, AAP election in-charge of the Mangolpuri Assembly segment, Rekha Chauhan, Bahujan Samaj Party’s candidate from Badarpur, Anil Kumar Jatav, Congress leader from Badarpur, and Raj Jain, president of the Bawana Chamber of Industries. Raj Jain joined the BJP along with presidents of 14 business associations from Bawana.

Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva welcomed the new members into the party during an induction ceremony today. He said corruption and flawed ideology of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had led to internal strife within the party. Those who had joined AAP in the hope of bringing a positive change now feel disillusioned and betrayed, he added.

He said a delegation of BJP leaders would file a complaint on Tuesday against the Delhi CM’s allegations that the BJP had approached AAP MLAs and was trying to topple the government. “We will demand a thorough investigation into his claims and urge him to provide evidence of the alleged BJP-AAP interactions,” he said.

He said, “We will meet the Commissioner of Police (CP) tomorrow to hand over the demand letter for investigation. If Arvind Kejriwal has any evidence to prove his allegations, he should present it and meet the CP.”