8 AAP MLAs join BJP ahead of Delhi assembly election
The MLAs resigned from AAP on Friday, accusing the party of corruption and straying from its ideology. They were also denied election tickets by AAP.
With just four days left for the February 5 Delhi assembly polls, eight outgoing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.
The MLAs resigned from AAP on Friday, accusing the party of corruption and straying from its ideology. They were also denied election tickets by AAP.
The eight MLAs who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are Vandana Gaur (Palam), Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Girish Soni (Madipur), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Rajesh Rishi (Uttam Nagar), B S Joon (Bijwasan), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), and Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar).
Following their resignation from AAP, the MLAs confirmed they had submitted their resignation letters to the Delhi assembly speaker, officially relinquishing their membership in the House.
Former AAP MLA Vijender Garg, along with several other key leaders, also joined the BJP in the presence of Baijayant Panda, national vice-president and Delhi BJP in-charge, and state president Virendra Sachdeva.
Panda welcomed the leaders into the BJP, calling it a “historic” day as they had distanced themselves from the “AAPda” (disaster). He expressed optimism that Delhi too would be freed from it after the February 5 polls.
The 70-seat Delhi assembly elections are scheduled for February 5, with results set to be declared on February 8.
