AAP MLA joins BJP

New Delhi: Anil Kumar Bajpai, AAP MLA from Gandhi Nagar constituency on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party amidst accusations that the saffron party might be offering money to AAP members to join them.

Addressing a Press conference, Bajpai denied all rumours of him having accepted cash for resigning from AAP. He said that he joined BJP voluntarily. "I challenge anybody to prove that I have taken money to join this party; then I will retire from the politics," he said.

"I have joined BJP because I am influenced by the policies of Narendra Modi and the party," he said, tearing into the way the AAP supremo Kejriwal treats his MLAs. Bajpai said that after working with the Congress for 15 years he had joined Kejriwal's crusade against corruption, believing in his cause. "But he calls his MLAs 'tuccha', 'donkey', and 'fools'. Many AAP MLAs now feel suffocated because of such treatment," he said.

The former AAP member went on to say that the only people willing to tolerate Kejriwal's treatment are ones who have struck a compromise with their own prestige.

Moreover, Bajpai said he was extremely offended when Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress Party raised questions about the legitimacy of the Balakot "surgical strikes" earlier this year.

BJP National Vice President Shyam Jaju was at Bajpai's initiation ceremony and said that a party with a future is one which sees an increase in membership. Jaju claimed that there is a long list of AAP MLAs who want to quit their party and join BJP because of "Kejriwal's despotic behaviour". In addition to Bajpai, the saffron party also inducted three AAP councilor candidates.