Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors - Praveen Kumar, Preeti and Sarita Phogat joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi on Wednesday. Preeti is a councillor from ward number 217 Dilshad Colony, Praveen Kumar from Madanpur Khadar Ward and Phogat is from ward number 150 Green Park. The three AAP leaders joined the saffron party in the presence of Delhi BJP president Virend Sachdeva and Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra at the Delhi BJP office.
The switchover comes ahead of a crucial MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) meeting. There is a meeting of the MCD to be held tomorrow, in which one Standing Committee member is to be elected. Just a day before the meeting two AAP councillors joined BJP which is a big setback for the ruling party. After Kamaljeet Shehrawat became an MP, a seat for standing committee member fell vacant and the election will take place in the meeting.
While addressing a press conference, Preeti said that she was a four-time councillor and has always remained among people trying to help in solving their problems related to civic issues.
"I joined Kejriwal and his party believing they wanted to do something different but now I was forced to quit the AAP as a different atmosphere exists there and it became unbearable for me," she said. The MCD councillor also slammed Chief Minister Atishi and the local MLA of her area, claiming no body in the ruling party in Delhi listened if anyone raised grievances of people like drains and dirty water supply.
No immediate reaction was available from the AAP which also rules the MCD.
What is the current strength of AAP, BJP in MCD?
Currently, AAP has 121 councillors in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, while BJP has BJP 118. In the December 2022 elections, AAP won the MCD ending the 15-year ruling of BJP and bagged 134 out of 250 MCD wards. The BJP managed to win 104 seats. Since the election, several AAP councillors switched to the saffron party.
