16 councillors of the Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP), a breakaway faction of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi on Friday in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra.
The move is expected to strengthen the BJP's position in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), while the AAP alleged that the defections were part of a long-planned strategy by the BJP to retain control of the civic body.
CM Rekha Gupta inducts councillors
Welcoming the IVP councillors into the BJP, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said they had taken the decision keeping Delhi's development in mind.
"It is a good signal that will speed up development in their wards," Gupta said, adding that the BJP government's top priority is the development of the city.
She said the induction of the IVP councillors would further strengthen the BJP in the MCD and help improve civic works in their respective municipal wards.
How the IVP was formed
Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra said the Indraprastha Vikas Party was formed around one-and-a-half years ago by councillors led by Mukesh Goel and Hemchand Goel after they witnessed what they described as a lack of development under the AAP-led mayor in Delhi.
He added that all 16 IVP councillors formally became BJP members after merging their party with the saffron party.
AAP claims defection engineered by BJP
Reacting to the merger, AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the development vindicated the party's long-standing claim that the BJP had orchestrated defections from the AAP to maintain control over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
According to Bharadwaj, the formation of the IVP was merely a cover to hide the BJP's role in encouraging councillors to leave the AAP before eventually merging with the BJP.
"This development comes as no surprise. We knew from day one that the BJP was behind this entire operation of engineering defections and was determined to retain control of the MCD through the back door," he said.
Bharadwaj alleged that the councillors who left the AAP had betrayed the mandate of Delhi's voters.
"Delhiites elected them by voting against the BJP, but they have now joined the BJP itself," he said.
The AAP leader also claimed that Delhi residents had voted the BJP out of power in the MCD after becoming dissatisfied with its 17-year rule, alleging that corruption and mismanagement had led to the deterioration of civic services.
He said the AAP would continue to raise issues related to the functioning of the MCD and expressed confidence that the people of Delhi would respond to what he described as a betrayal of their mandate.
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