The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, alleged that the ruling BJP was behind the defections and its councillors were offered Rs 5 crore each as part of a “horse-trading operation”.
The councillors who left AAP to form a separate party have clearly stated that since the 2022 elections, party leaders neither focused on running the municipal administration nor on maintaining coordination with them, Sachdeva said.
“It is therefore evident that the BJP has nothing to do with this,” he claimed in a statement.
Truth is that it is due to the collapse of AAP’s 10 years of “non-development, corruption, inaction and scams” in Delhi, several councillors and MLAs have chosen to leave the party, he said.
The Delhi BJP president charged that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, due to his “obstinate approach”, never allowed the formation of a Standing Committee in the MCD and never engaged in dialogue with his councillors.
“As a result, even after passing of more than half of the tenure, AAP councillors have been unable to initiate any development work in their wards. Fearful of facing the public in the upcoming elections, 15 councillors decided to form their own party,” he said.
Sachdeva said instead of blaming the BJP for the “internal collapse” in the AAP, its leaders should introspect. These 15 councillors accusing their party leadership of “neglect” are not the first ones, he stated.
Previously, more than 15 MLAs including three ministers, over 10 councillors, and one Rajya Sabha MP have accused Kejriwal of running the party “without coordination” and thereby leading it towards “destruction”, he claimed. PTI VIT KVK KVK