Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 31: In a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, seven AAP MLAs have resigned just five days before voting in the Delhi election. None of them got party ticket to contest the election again.
The MLAs who resigned are Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Rohit Kumar (Trilokpuri), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), and Bhawna Goud (Palam). B.S. June from Bijwasan was the first AAP MLA who gave his papers.
Palam’s Bhavna Goud in her resignation letter directed her disappointment at party chief Arvind Kejriwal. “I have lost faith in you,” the MLA said.
Naresh Yadav was earlier the Mehrauli candidate. He was convicted by a Punjab court in a Quran desecration case in December and sentenced to two-year jail. When the AAP released its fifth list of candidates for the Delhi election, to be held on February 5, the party announced Mahender Chaudhary as its Mehrauli candidate, replacing Naresh Yadav.
Naresh Yadav in his resignation letter said the AAP abandoned its founding principle of “honest politics.” He alleged the party, instead of fulfilling its pledge to reduce corruption, had “become entangled in the swamp of corruption itself,” alluding to the Delhi liquor policy case in which former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia were jailed for several months. He represented south Delhi’s Mehrauli constituency for 10 years.
Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, the Trilokpuri MLA, in a post on X said he joined AAP during the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption, with the hope of securing social justice for the Dalit and Valmiki communities.
Mr Mehraulia said the AAP promised to uplift these communities, but failed to address crucial issues such as scrapping contract-based labour and ensuring temporary workers are absorbed permanently.
Janakpuri’s Rajesh Rishi also cited growing disenchantment with what he called the AAP’s departure from its core values. In his resignation letter, he criticised the AAP for betraying the principles of corruption-free governance and transparency it was founded on. Mr Rishi, another former supporter of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, alleged the party has become a “cesspit of nepotism and corruption.”
The AAP has fielded new faces in all the seven seats. As per the party’s candidates’ list, it has nominated Mukesh Goel from Adarsh Nagar, Pravin Kumar from Janakpuri, Surendra Bhardwaj from Bijwasan, Joginder Solanki from Palam, Ramesh Pehlwan from Kasturba Nagar, and Anjana Parcha from Trilokpuri.
The Delhi polls are scheduled for February 5 and the results will be announced on February 8. A total of 699 candidates are competing for the 70 assembly seats in Delhi.
