Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Rajesh Gupta got emotional after he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just a day before the byelection to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Gupta, a two-time MLA, said the AAP top brass is not considerate about those who "left their jobs" for the Anna Andolan.
A former national spokesperson of the party, Gupta blamed Arvind Kejriwal for AAP's downfall and said the former Delhi chief minister was treating workers in a "use and throw" manner.
"They (AAP) don’t care about the people now who left their jobs during Anna Andolan... Many people want to leave (AAP), and I think they should. It’s not easy. They should go somewhere where they get respect; a party which doesn't use and throw their workers," Gupta said.
Gupta said he still has 'many friends' in AAP who may soon quit the party, as they are also being 'betrayed'. "I did not leave them; they left me. Even before the party was formed, when the movement began, there were three core principles we spoke about, corruption, crime and character. If any of these were found lacking in a person, the party would not support them, let alone give them a ticket," he told news agency PTI.
The AAP has not reacted to Gupta's comments yet. Meanwhile, he joined the saffron party in presence of BJP's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, who said Gupta had created a 'distinct identity' for himself in the AAP, but Kejriwal failed to value it.
Interestingly, Gupta joined the BJP just a day before the MCD byelection, which is considered to be a litmus test for the saffron party considering its success in the 2025 Delhi assembly polls. The polling on Sunday will be held at 580 booths across 143 polling locations, and it will decide the faith of 51 candidates, including 26 women.
The BJP has fielded the highest number of women candidates (eight), followed by AAP (six) and Congress (five).
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