AAP candidate turns out to be BJP man

On Friday, the AAP announced its final list of Delhi assembly candidates and Suresh Bhardwaj was named as the man from Wazirpur. Bhardwaj, however, claimed that he was unaware of his candidature till he saw the news reports on Friday.

“AAP volunteers approached me on Friday afternoon, hours before the list was formalised offering me a ticket from Wazirpur. There was no official communication from the party and I did not take the matter seriously,” said Bhardwaj.

After the embarrassment, AAP announced that Rajesh Gupta will be its new candidate from Wazirpur. “Following the announcement, we received a series of complaints from our local volunteers regarding the functioning of a factory Bhardwaj owns. He had not disclosed information regarding this to the party even when Sanjay Singh asked him about it yesterday afternoon,” said a senior AAP leader, explaining why Bhardwaj was replaced.

BJP leaders claimed that they were also “surprised” on seeing Bhadwaj’s name being announced as an AAP candidate. “He had certain issues with the party which were sorted out with him. He is now back with the BJP,” said a party leader.

Bhardwaj, on Friday, said that he had “problems” with the BJP MLA but that the party had asked him to approach them in such matters.

“After my AAP candidature was announced, BJP leaders called me and assured me that my concerns would be addressed. I have always remained loyal to the BJP,” said Bhardwaj. His daughter-in-law is a sitting BJP councillor from Ashok Vihar and his son is the BJP district vice-president in Keshavpuram.