Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MlA from Ambedkar Nagar Ashok Chauhan, a Dalit leader, has joined the BJP, accusing that there is ‘no democracy’ in the AAP and only a few persons are ‘running it’. ‘Feeling suffocated’, he decided to leave AAP. “I think BJP will better utilise my talents as AAP has lost focus,” Chauhan said. This is the third AAP leader who has joined the saffron party in the last 15 days.
Slamming former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chauhan said that he had “betrayed” Dalits by not fulfilling his promises in last Assembly polls. “Valmiki Samaj had supported him in the last Assembly elections, but he failed to meet their demands. Not only Dalits, they (AAP) cheated and betrayed every section of society,” Chauhan said.
The former AAP MlA, who defeated Congress heavyweight Chaudhary Prem Singh from Ambedkar Nagar, also accused Kejriwal of being dictatorial in his party. “Only a clutch of leaders are running AAP. There is no internal democracy. The leaders don’t listen to the party workers,” he added.
On joining the BJP, Chauhan said that he was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi following which he decided to join the party. last month, former AAP MlA and Delhi Assembly Speaker MS Dhir had also joined the saffron party. Meanwhile, one Rahul Rajpal, who is reportedly an office bearer of the Delhi Congress, also joined the BJP.
Delhi BJP in-charge Prabhat Jha said many people are willing to join the party.“We welcome any person who wants to join the BJP without preconditions,” Jha said. Meanwhile, the BJP has cancelled party MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s rallies in the national Capital following her controversial remarks. State chief Satish Upadhyay said, “We didn’t make any schedule of any rally on weekends as most party MPs will be visiting their constituencies.”
The Delhi BJP president also clarified that this MP’s rally cannot be called a ‘public rally,’ instead it is more of a nukkad sabha. “This is not a public rally, as it is being mentioned in the media reports, it is more of a nukkad sabha,” Upadhyay clarified.