The Aam Aadmi Party received a shot in the arm ahead of the Assembly elections with seven dissidents from other parties, including former South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s South Zone chairman Kartar Singh Tanwar, joining it on Tuesday. The formal announcement of these leaders switching their allegiances from the BJP, Congress and BSP was made at a press conference.
Mr. Tanwar -- a two time BJP councillor from Bhati municipal ward under the Chhattarpur Assembly constituency -- and three other new entrants were under consideration to contest the elections, said party sources.
He alleged large-scale corruption was prevalent in all the three corporations ruled by the BJP which forced him to switch sides. He, however, ducked questions about any specific incident of corruption he himself came across. The second sitting councillor to jump on to the AAP’s bandwagon is Reeta Chauhan, who represents the Bakhtawarpur ward in the Narela Assembly constituency.
The AAP also managed to get on board Sharad Kumar Chauhan, who contested the 2008 Assembly election on a BSP ticket and lost by a slender margin of 800 votes.
Other entrants include former BJP youth leader Vijay Bansal, former councillor Memwati, Baldev Balwan and Dharampal Lakra (all from the Congress).
Party leaders Ashutosh and Sanjay Singh said leaders from other political parties who did not have a past criminal record were welcome to join the party and said a thorough background check was conducted before inducting new members.
