Two AAP leaders in Haryana quit party, set to join Congress

More than a year after former Congress leaders Nirmal Singh and Chitra Sarwara joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in April last year, the father-daughter duo on Thursday resigned from the primary membership and all party positions.

According to sources, they are likely to join back the Congress on January 5 in New Delhi in the presence of a senior leader from the central leadership of the party.

In their separate but similar resignations to the party’s state in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta, both the leaders have cited personal reasons behind the move. Both remained incommunicado for further details.

“Though our paths ahead will separate, I believe the ends will remain the same to make a positive difference to our nation and its people,” the letters read.

The resignation comes three days after Chitra, AAP’s state vice-president, ended the party’s much flouted “Badlav Yatra” in Panipat, which was started from Kalka in Panchkula in a bid to end “misrule of the BJP” and give a chance to party convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Nirmal, AAP’s national joint secretary, was also a part of the yatra, but discontinued it after it reached Thanesar in Kurukshetra.

The development also comes as a shocker for the party that was relying heavily on them, particularly in the north Haryana region that borders with Punjab districts, where the AAP is in power.

A former minister and ex-Congress leader, Nirmal has a significant base in several north Haryana districts and has been victorious from the Naggal seat of Ambala district in 1982, 1991, 1996 and 2005 till its delimitation and the addition of areas into Cantt, City, Mullana and Naraingarh constituencies.

Chitra has held several positions at the state and national level for Congress and was also a councillor with the Ambala Sadar municipal council.

During 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Nirmal had also contested unsuccessfully from Kurukshetra seat against BJP’s Nayab Saini.

Both had resigned from the Congress in 2019, when Nirmal was seeking a Congress ticket for his daughter from Ambala Cantonment against BJP stalwart Anil Vij in the assembly elections.

However, she was denied the seat by Selja as she was reportedly irked over him for not supporting her in the 2019 general elections due to their close relations with former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Following this, both Nirmal and Chitra contested as Independents from City and Cantt constituencies, respectively.

They managed to gain a sizeable vote share and secured the second position in both constituencies, while the Congress candidates lost their security deposit.

Later in 2019, both floated their own outfit, Haryana Democratic Front (HDF) that was later merged into the AAP.

Their return to the Congress was much anticipated in the political circles since former Hodal MLA Udai Bhan, a close aide of Hooda, was chosen as the state chief last year.