Heavy pre-election turnover of turncoats between AAP and BJP

Upadhyay, who was a founder member of the AAP, had been expelled from the party for speaking out against party chief Arvind Kejriwal.

While four of the five were founder members of the AAP, Bhagwan Singh had assisted AAP Mongolpuri candidate Rakhi Birla during the last Assembly elections.

Upadhyay said, “We all were connected with the Anna Hazare movement and came into politics to stop the degradation of social and national values due to caste, corruption and crime. But the way in which Kejriwal and some leaders close to him used the energy created by the Hazare movement to grab power and form government, with the help of a corrupt Congress party, disillusioned us. The energy shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for development of the nation has inspired me today and so I am joining the BJP.”

The new entrants into the AAP from the BJP, such as former Delhi South Zone chairman and councillor Kartar Singh Tanwar, said the Kejriwal-led party was the only option left for those who wanted “clean politics”.

Tanwar, an influential Jat leader in the Chhatarpur area, said, “In the municipal corporations, there is immense corruption. No work gets done without give or take. I had raised these issues when I was in the BJP. The 49-day AAP government ended the corruption and we have joined to make the fight against corruption stronger.”

Apart from Tanwar, others who joined the AAP are Geeta Chauhan, a BSP councillor from Narela;  Sharad Chauhan, who had contested the Narela seat in 2008 on a BSP ticket; Dharampal Lakra; Baldev Balwan; former Bawana councillor Memwati of the Congress; and former BJP youth wing leader Vijay Bansal.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, “We are going to raise the issue of corruption in municipal corporations in a huge manner. Even for their Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, we had sent them 3,000 pictures of garbage but no action was taken. These new entrants will help us raise the issue.”

Sources in AAP said some of those who joined the party on Tuesday, notably Kartar Singh Tanwar, are likely to be given a ticket for the Assembly elections.

The Congress, meanwhile, said the political “exchanges” between the AAP and the BJP were something that the party wasn’t willing to pay much attention to. “Think of these as transfer-postings between the AAP and the BJP. Both are extensions of each other and when someone leaves the AAP, they end up in the BJP and vice versa. Both parties are similarly anti-people,” Congress leader Haroon Yusuf said.

“Right now, people are joining the Congress. The other day, Shoaib Iqbal — Matia Mahal MLA — joined the party. A number of councillors from other parties have joined us in the past few days,” he said.

Balli crosses over to BJP

A little over a year after moving to the Congress after being denied a BJP ticket, former MLA Harsharan Singh Balli, rejoined his old party and said going to the Congress was  a “mistake”. Singer Shankar Sahney and former Youth Congress leader Deepak Tanwar also joined the BJP on Tuesday. Balli said, “Joining the Congress was my frustration. Whatever mistakes I made over the last one year, I apologise for them. The BJP has finally accepted me back.”  With Balli back in its fold, the BJP hopes to win the Hari Nagar seat, which was given to Akali Dal last elections. The party had lost the seat to AAP. While party seniors have hinted that Balli will work for the BJP candidate from Hari Nagar, Balli has not lost all hopes of getting a ticket. “I will do whatever my party plans for me this elections,” he said when asked if he would contest from Hari Nagar again.

Prabhat Jha, Delhi in-charge, however, said those joining the party will be given the task of strengthening the party and those coming with demands of a ticket will not be entertained. (With ENS inputs)