‘They tried to trap me’: Day after quitting, Gujarat leader comes out against AAP; party alleges BJP hand

Addressing a press conference in Rajkot on Thursday morning, Raju Karpada said that he had come forth to offer an explanation for his “sudden resignation” from the AAP.

He claimed that even before he joined the AAP 2022, he used to fight for the rights of farmers without being involved in politics and that their work led to farmers in Surendranagar getting compensation for crop losses in five consecutive years.

“When I joined the AAP, I thought that the farmers’ movement would get more impetus with political backing and we did see some success. But after the Hadadad agitation, when the farmers and I were in jail during Diwali, I thought that if I weren’t involved in politics, then perhaps we wouldn’t have been booked for attempt to murder. In this political fight, it was our farmers who suffered. I was ready to remain in jail not just for three  months but three years but the sad thing was that the farmers, who had never seen the inside of a police station even once, had to remain in jail,” Karpada said.

Rejecting his claims as false and baseless, AAP leaders argued that Karpada had been sentenced to five years in prison in one case and the trial in two other “attempt to murder” cases were underway against him in the Surendranagar District and Sessions Court.

“During the Visavadar election, I campaigned as if I was the candidate but when I went to jail, I realised  when the first bail hearing took place in October that not a single party lawyer was present in court and some small lawyer argued and the bail pleas of 12 farmers were rejected,” Karpada said.

Speaking on the two additional FIRs filed against him for his Facebook posts while he was still in prison, Karpada said, “Instead of trying to get us released, people in the party tried to trap me… I decided then that whatever I would do from now on would be nonpolitical.”

Soon after Karpada’s allegations, Pravin Ram held a press conference in Ahmedabad on Thursday morning and claimed that while in prison Karpada had expressed concerns regarding his conviction and five-year sentence in a previous case by a Surendranagar court and another case, which is in the final phase of trial.

“He expressed concerns that he would be imprisoned in these cases and would not be able to contest elections. He feared going to jail and that’s why he has resigned and made all these allegations today,” Ram alleged.

Hinting at a role for the ruling BJP in Karpada’s sudden resignation, Ram said: “We will soon see which party Raju Karpada joins and if he joins the BJP, then it means that the ruling party has used pressure tactics using the leverage of previous cases against him. And if he is really unhappy with the APP as he said, then he won’t join any other political party,” Ram said.

Addressing another press conference in the evening, AAP MLA Gopal Italia said that Karpada was  hiding something about his latest decision.

“I thank Rajubhai and his family for his work for the last several years. I am sad that the man who sat next to me and spoke with passion and anger from the heart is today speaking weightless words from a script. There was guilt on his face today. Rajubhai has made a lot of allegations against us, but I think he was hiding  something from the people, as to why he had to take this step,” Italia said.

“In the election affidavit filed in 2022, he has mentioned three cases against him. One is of grievous assault in which he has been sentenced to five years imprisonment. The other two cases are those of attempt to murder, and I have proof that the hearing on both those cases were scheduled for today, that is February 12, 2026. In one of these cases, there were final arguments scheduled for today. So the BJP pressured him that if he doesn’t hold a press conference and make allegations against AAP, then anything could happen in court. That is why he has had to take this step in helplessness,” Italia said.

Rejecting Karoada’s claims of delay in getting bail for the 85 accused in the Hadadad agitation case, Italia called it “procedural delays” and added that senior advocates had been involved by the party to aid those in jail. “Just to avoid jail himself, Rajubhai sacrificed the farmers’ movement,” he alleged.

On allegations that the AAP himself had not gone to Hadadad for the agitation, Italia said that he was addressing a rally in Rajkot and the day before the Botad farmers’ agitation, Italia was at Karoada’s home in Surendranagar and that they had both left from there together – Karpada heading to Botad and Italia to Rajkot.

Alleging that BJP leaders and senior IPS officers had met Karpada, Italia said that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann had held a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Karoada’s home district in his support when he was in jail. “The party held eight programmes in his support when he was in jail,” Italia said.