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Journalism of Courage
When eight Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs quit from the prime membership of the party Friday, they cited “growing corruption” and the “lack of internal democracy” in the party among the reasons to leave its fold.
These legislators, who had won in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections on the AAP tickets, blamed the party leadership for “deviating from the AAP’s founding principles”.
The eight MLAs, however, have another common “grievance”: All of them were denied the AAP tickets for the February 5 Delhi polls, with the party fielding new candidates from their seats. The party also had the same reasons for dropping them: anti-incumbency and adverse feedback about them from its support base on the ground.
As many as 20 sitting MLAs had been dropped, and three more may quit the AAP in the coming days, said Madan Lal, the sitting Kasturba Nagar legislator who quit the party after being denied a ticket.
A day after resigning from the party, all the eight MLAs joined the BJP on Saturday in the presence of its national vice-president and Delhi in-charge Baijayant Panda. Welcoming the MLAs into the BJP, Panda said it was a “historic day” as these leaders have “come out of the misery of the AAP-da (disaster) party”. Some of the legislators said they waited until the last date of nomination to see if the AAP would change its mind on their candidature, but decided to resign after the deadline passed.
A member of the AAP since its inception, Lal, 68, won the Kasturba Nagar constituency in three consecutive Assembly elections in 2013, 2015 and 2020. In 2020, he won by a margin of over 3,000 votes. Before joining the AAP, he was among the founding members of the Saket Bar Association.
The party, however, decided against fielding him this time, and instead nominated Ramesh Pehalwan, a former BJP leader who joined the AAP in December along with his wife Kusum Lata, a councillor.
In his resignation letter, Lal said he “lost faith in (Kejriwal) and the party”. Speaking to The Indian Express, Lal said he and the other MLAs decided to quit the AAP because the party that was “formed to end corruption in Delhi is itself indulging in corruption”.
“All of us decided to tender our resignations as we thought it was the perfect time,” he said Friday, adding that “There is no point joining the Congress… We may join the BJP if they invite us to their party with respect and honour.”
A day later, Lal, along with seven other legislators, joined the BJP.
Lal admitted that the AAP leadership’s decision to drop them as candidates was among the reasons for their “disenchantment”. “We can say that is one of the reasons. The party removed those who worked for their constituencies and replaced them with candidates who have criminal backgrounds,” he claimed.
“They (AAP) dropped over 20 sitting MLAs. Those they have given tickets to are not going to win. They gave tickets in exchange for money and we don’t want to be a part of a party that is involved in such corruption. They (AAP leadership) are thinking only about their political ambition and not working for the people,” he alleged.
Naresh Yadav, 52, is a prominent leader in his Mehrauli seat, which he has won in the last two consecutive Assembly elections. In the 2015 polls, he won Mehrauli by more than 16,500 votes and again in 2020 by over 18,000 votes. He had joined the AAP in 2013, prior to which he was a practising lawyer.
Yadav made the headlines last December when a Punjab court convicted and sentenced him to a two-year prison term in a 2016 Quran desecration case. Though he had initially been named as an AAP candidate despite the conviction, he was later replaced by Mahender Chaudhary, a former Congress leader who joined the AAP in 2022.
“I have been with the party since the Anna Aandolan days, when (party chief Arvind) Kejriwal ji’s ideology was honesty and he used to talk about eradicating corruption. But now he and his party have become corrupt… Everyone from its MLAs to councillors are neck-deep in corruption.”
Yadav said he had decided against contesting on an AAP ticket on Kejriwal’s request, but was left angry when a Congress turncoat was chosen as his replacement. “I had some cases pending against me in a high court and Kejriwal ji told me if I contest, the party will lose Muslim votes. I agreed but I requested him to give the ticket to an honest candidate. I even suggested a few names,”’ he said. “But (Kejriwal) decided to field an individual from another party, who used to work against the AAP till recently.”
Bijwasan MLA Joon, who was a practising lawyer before joining the AAP in 2018, got the party ticket in 2020 after the party’s then sitting legislator from the seat quit to join the BJP. Joon, 71, won the seat by 753 votes, the smallest margin recorded in the 2020 polls. He has been replaced by Surender Bharadwaj this time.
“I was selected as the best legislator by the Praja Foundation (a Mumbai-based non-profit) because of my performance. But the party gave ticket to a criminal who has sexual harassment charges against him,” he alleged while speaking to The Indian Express.
“Even the (AAP) team that decided the tickets are criminals – (former communications-in-charge) Vijay Nair, Arvind Kejriwal and (MLA and Political Affairs Committee member) Durgesh Pathak have been booked in the liquor scam… There was corruption in the ticket distribution,” he alleged. “I had raised several issues of my constituency, which irked Kejriwal and his team. That’s why they dropped me.”
Mehraulia has been with the AAP since the India Against Corruption movement in 2011. The 48-year-old Dalit leader won from Trilokpuri, a reserved constituency, in 2020. This time, however, he has been replaced by AAP worker Anjana Parcha, who has never contested an election.
In his resignation letter, Mehraulia said, “I left my job and joined you (Kejriwal) during the Anna Andolan thinking that you would bring Baba Saheb’s dream to life by giving equal status and social justice to my community… But you only used them (Dalits) for your vote bank.”
Mehraulia also alleged that whenever he tried to raise the issues of his community in the Assembly or party meetings, his “voice was suppressed by the party”.
A two-time MLA from the Palam constituency, Gaur, 54, joined the AAP in 2012. She contested and lost in the 2013 Assembly polls to the BJP’s Dharam Dev Solanki, who had been the sitting MLA since 2003. However, Gaur won the seat in 2015 and 2020, by over 30,000 votes each time. She has been replaced by Joginder Solanki as AAP candidate for the upcoming polls.
In her resignation letter, she said she “lost faith in (Kejriwal).”
After joining the AAP in 2012, Sharma, 66, first contested an Assembly election from Adarsh Nagar in 2015, winning by over 20,000 votes. Though he won the seat again in 2020, his victory margin was reduced to just over 1,500 votes. The AAP has now replaced him with Mukesh Goel, a councillor, as its nominee from the seat.
While resigning from the party, Sharma also charged that “The party has totally deviated from its ideology.”
An AAP member since its inception, 60-year-old Rishi first contested the Assembly polls in 2013 but lost to the BJP candidate. However, he won the next two elections in 2015 and 2020 from Janakpuri. He has been replaced by Jangpura MLA Praveen Kumar now, who has vacated his seat to make way for former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
“The party has betrayed those who had put their faith in Arvind Kejriwal to form a political party. I struggled to build the party and am pained to see the AAP deviating from its core principle. The party’s leadership has become synonymous with corruption, nepotism and dictatorship,” Rishi alleged in his resignation letter.
Soni, 61, has been the AAP MLA from the reserved Madipur constituency for three consecutive terms since 2013. This time, the party has replaced him with Rakhi Bidlan, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly. The party has fielded Bidlan, the sitting Mangolpuri MLA, from a new seat, citing anti-incumbency.
Posting his resignation letter on X, Soni alleged, “The activities that have been going on in the AAP for a long time… become a subject of criticism and raise a question mark like ‘Sheesh Mahal’. After this, are we really common people? Being shocked by all these issues, I am resigning from all the responsibilities of the AAP.”
