Days after five AAP councilors switched their loyalties and joined BJP on Sunday, Shahbad Dairy Councilor Ramchandra on Thursday re-joined the AAP and said that it was his biggest mistake to join the BJP.
This comes a day after the Municipal Secretary announced that elections for the MCD’s 12 ward committees will be held on September 4. AAP in a statement said, “The BJP, which tricked an AAP councilor into joining its party, got a big blow on Thursday as Councilor Ramchandra from Ward No. 28, who left the AAP after being misled by the BJP, returned to his party.”
On his rejoining, Ramchandra said that he realized his wrong decision and met senior leaders of the AAP including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Dr. Sandeep Pathak and expressed his desire to return to his family. “Joining the BJP was my big mistake, but now I want to return to his family and correct this mistake,” he said.
Welcoming the Councillor back into the party fold, Manish Sisodia tweeted, “I met old AAP colleague and former Bawana Vidhan Sabha MLA Ramchandra . Today he has returned to his Aam Aadmi family.”
The AAP councilor said that he has returned after getting a dream of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. “I am Ramchandra, a small soldier of the AAP. I made the wrong decision, but I have returned to my family again. Last night, our Chief Minister came in my dream and reprimanded me saying that Ramchandra get up and go and meet Manish (Sisodia) , Gopal Rai , Sandeep (Pathak) and all the leaders; go and meet your workers in the area and work.”
He added that he will never leave AAP and said that he has taken an oath to never be misled by anyone in the future.
Chander’s return could have implications in the upcoming ward committee elections, particularly in the Narela Zone. Chander was one of two AAP councillors from the Narela Zone who had defected to the BJP, giving the BJP a majority in the ward. With Chander back in AAP, the Narela ward is likely to see a tie in the upcoming ward committee elections, as both parties may now have an equal number of votes. The ward committee elections are important because 12 of the 18 members of the Standing Committee, which serves as the MCD’s financial backbone, are elected during these elections.
