NEW DELHI: With three councillors from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) filing their nominations for the post of Deputy Mayor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), rumours are rife of a major rift in the party.
Early on Thursday, the party announced its candidates for the upcoming MCD mayoral polls, nominating Dev Nagar ward councillor Mahesh Khichi for the post of mayor and Aman Vihar councillor Ravinder Bharadwaj for the post of Deputy Mayor. Both candidates filed their nominations before noon on Thursday. However, later in the day, it emerged that two more councillors from the party had filed their nominations for the post of Deputy Mayor - Narendra Kumar from Ward No. 119 - Mangalpuri and Vijay Kumar from Ward 192 - Trilokpuri (East).
In a cryptic message on the social media platform X on Friday, Vijay Kumar said, “I have filed my nomination for the post of Deputy Mayor. I will not only contest the election but also win it. I request you to refrain from putting any pressure on me and my family. You talk about democracy but there is no democracy within the party.” In another post, he said, “This is a personal decision. I request you to keep my family out of politics.”
AAP has a thin majority in the MCD house, with 134 councillors of the total 250. The opposition BJP has 104 councillors while the Congress has 9. This has led to concerns within the party, as any cross-voting could tip the balance in the opposition’s favor.
Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded Kishan Lal, councillor of Ward no. 62, Shakarpur as its candidate for Mayor and councillor of Ward no. 247, Neeta Bisht from Sadatpur for Deputy Mayor. The mayoral polls will be held in a general meeting of the MCD on April 26.