Prominent AAP leaders join BJP

New Delhi: In another political development, several influential leaders and activists from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday in the presence of Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra. Among those switching allegiance were AAP state minister and advocate Reena Mehra, 2022 Geeta Colony municipal election candidate Kanwaljit Kaur, and members of various religious and business organisations from Janakpuri, including AAP Trade Wing vice president Shamsher Chahar.

The event was attended by BJP leaders Ashish Sood (Janakpuri) and Dr. Anil Goyal (Krishna Nagar), and coordinated by BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor. The defection from AAP also saw the inclusion of several prominent activists, such as

Manish Bhasin, Harpal Singh, Jugal Kishore Behl, Lavanya Bhagat, and others, with approximately 100 AAP workers joining the BJP ranks.

Malhotra expressed that the recent exodus of AAP members highlighted growing dissatisfaction with Arvind Kejriwal’s leadership. He accused Kejriwal of betraying his supporters and using his anti-corruption movement as a guise to foster a commission-based governance system. Malhotra pointed to the liquor policy scam as a prime example of Kejriwal’s corrupt practices, alleging the Chief Minister raised commission rates for contractors from 2 per cent to 12 per cent to extract kickbacks. “We are witnessing leaders abandoning Kejriwal’s sinking ship due to the corruption and commission-based governance that has marred his administration,” said Malhotra.