Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections slated to be held early next year, former two-time Timarpur MLA Surendra Pal Singh Bittu joined the AAP on Friday, while the constituency's current MLA Dilip Pandey, hinted that he may be denied ticket for the upcoming polls from Timarpur seat, saying it was time for him to do something else. Earlier Pandey, a senior AAP leader and the party's chief whip in the Delhi Assembly, in a long post on X in Hindi said whoever contests the election from the constituency, only Arvind Kejriwal will become Delhi's chief minister and people will ensure that.
The move by Pandey has come after AAP MLA from Shahdara and Speaker of outgoing Delhi Assembly Ram Niwas Goel recently sought to retire from electoral politics citing his old age, in a letter to Kejriwal.
"After fulfilling the responsibility of building an organisation in politics and then contesting elections in the politics, now it's time to do something else while staying in the AAP," Pandey said in his post.
Meanwhile, senior AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia welcomed Singh into the party and said his experience will help the party in its development work.
"Inspired by the good developmental work of the AAP in the field of education, health, Singh is joining our party today, and I am sure that his experience will help the party to continue doing good work," Sisodia said. He emphasised that Arvind Kejriwal is a true leader of the people and a messiah of the downtrodden.
“It was my desire to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him and contribute to the cause of improving people’s lives. I am committed to working alongside this party to bring positive change and ensure the welfare of the people,” he added.
"There is only one party that truly understands the needs of the common people and I will work shoulder to shoulder with the AAP," Singh said after joining the party.
A former software engineer based in Singapore, Pandey came back to India to join the anti corruption movement and later became one of the prominent leaders of AAP after Kejriwal formed the party. A Purvanchali leader of AAP, he also contested the Lok Sabha polls from North East Delhi seat on the party's ticket in 2019 but was defeated by BJP's Manoj Tiwari.
Pandey said his only satisfaction of being in politics is that the AAP government made lives of a large number of common man and poor people easy and paved the way for prospects of a better life for many children.
Delhi assembly elections are due in February next year, and AAP is eyeing a third consecutive term after winning 62 out of 70 seats in the 2020 elections.