Citing 'growing corruption' within party, 8 AAP MLAs resign
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New Delhi: Eight MLAs have quit the AAP, dealing the party a serious setback ahead of the Delhi assembly elections. Tickets to run in the next elections were not given to Delhi's ruling party's eight MLAs. The MLAs' resignations were attributed to "growing corruption" within the party.
Naresh Yadav from Mehrauli, Rohit Kumar from Trilokpuri, Rajesh Rishi from Janakpuri, Madan Lal from Kasturba Nagar, Pawan Sharma from Adarsh Nagar, BS Joon from Bijwasan, Girish Soni from Madipur, and Bhawna Goud from Palam are the MLAs who have resigned from their primary membership of the party.
Sources claim that after a meeting on Friday with a number of MLAs who were not given tickets this time, resignations began to come in. The first to resign was AAP’s Bijwasan MLA.
In December, a Punjabi court found AAP Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav guilty of desecration of the Quran and sentenced him to two years in prison. Previously, the party declared his candidature for the same assembly constituency, but when it revealed its fifth list of candidates, Mahender Chaudhary was named as the Mehrauli candidate, replacing Yadav.
In his resignation letter to AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal, Yadav claimed that the ruling party has strayed from its core principle of ‘honest politics.’ “I dedicated my entire life to politics and worked under your leadership with utmost honesty and dedication. I made every effort to realize your vision and also contributed 100% to fulfilling the responsibilities given to me. However, today, the party has drifted from its core ideology, and good people who want to work honestly are being sidelined, while those involved in corrupt practices are being given a place in the organization," he said in his letter, TNIE reported.
Yadav went on to say that the AAP no longer serves the purpose for which it was created. In such circumstances, he no longer wishes to be a member of the party. As a result, he resigned from the party's primary membership, effective immediately.
In response to the setback, the AAP stated that it is a popular party with many capable and well-educated candidates vying for tickets. This time, some MLAs were denied tickets, which caused dissatisfaction, according to the report. For the past few weeks, BJP members have been approaching AAP MLAs who did not receive tickets, tempting them with various offers, offering positions, power, and rewards, the party alleged.
“Kejriwal’s true soldiers will stand with the AAP till their last breath because they didn’t enter politics for positions like MLA, Councilor, or Minister—they joined to serve the nation, no matter what role they are given. Under his leadership, AAP gave tickets to ordinary individuals from humble backgrounds and made them MLAs. This is only possible in the AAP—elsewhere, it takes a lifetime just to become a councillor,” the party said in a statement.