After leaving people guessing for a week about his next political move since snapping a three-decade-old association with Congress, former councillor from Janakpuri Sanjey Puri joined the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday.
It was last week that Mr. Puri, who was also the administrator of the online portal of the party’s State Unit and party’s mouthpiece Sandesh left Congress. His exit also meant that the web portal remained temporarily shut down. His exit was prompted by a denial of party ticket from Janakpuri Assembly constituency and he later filed nomination as an independent candidate.
“I spoke to Arvind Kejriwal about joining AAP who told me my entry would be possible only after withdrawal of my nomination as this would lead to a split in the anti-BJP votes against BJP strongman Jagdish Mukhi,” said Mr. Puri.
On January 24, Mr. Puri withdrew his nomination which paved the way for his entry into the AAP. On Thursday, sitting independent councillor South Delhi Municipal Corporation of Bijwasan Poonam Bhardwaj also joined AAP. Samajwadi Party candidate from Bijwasan Assembly constituency Narender Jat Rana also joined AAP.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh attributed the switchovers to a favourable atmosphere for the party. “Sensing the mood of the people of Delhi in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party, more and more political activists are leaving their respective parties to come into the AAP fold,” he said.
He expressed confidence that AAP would form a government in the Capital with a thumping majority and referred to recent surveys predicting a 10 per cent lead in AAP’s voteshare compared to BJP’s.
Sanjey Puri's exit was prompted by a denial of Congress party ticket from the Janakpuri Assembly constituency and he later filed nomination as an independent candidate.
