NEW DELHI: In a significant political shake-up within the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), 13 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors turned rebel on Saturday, announcing a new political front in the House, the Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP).
The councillors tendered their resignations from the primary membership of the AAP, weakening the party’s strength in the civic body’s House to 100 from 113. Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 117 and the Congress holds 8 councillors in the House.
The group, led by Moralband councillor Hemanchand Goyal, is set to function as an independent bloc within the MCD. In a signed statement submitted to the MCD, the councillors cited disillusionment with AAP’s leadership and internal coordination as key reasons for their departure.
“The coordination between the top leadership and the municipal councillors was negligible, due to which the party came into the opposition. Due to failure to fulfil the promises made to the public, we, the following councillors, are resigning from the primary membership of the party,” they stated in their letter.
The most surprising defection among the 13 rebel councillors is former Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel. Once a prominent Congress figure, he joined AAP ahead of the 2022 civic elections and was named the party’s Leader of the House thereafter.
He served in the position under the tenures of two AAP mayors, Shelly Oberoi and Mahesh Khicchi. In a press conference held to announce the new front, Goel also hinted that more AAP councillors are likely to join the new outfit.
The development comes just weeks after the BJP regained control of the MCD by winning the mayoral elections, and AAP appointed Ankush Narang as the House’s Leader of Opposition, removing Goel from the post. Ever since, there had been murmurs of defection, as a large number of councillors expressed dissatisfaction with Narang’s elevation.
Notably, the timing of the defection by 13 councillors from AAP holds particular significance, as elections for chairpersons of the 12 zonal ward committees, responsible for deciding the powerful 18-member Standing Committee, are approaching.
Responding to the development, AAP hit out at the BJP and alleged that the ruling party is poaching councillors. “Each councillor was offered ₹5 crore. The BJP does not have a majority to form the Standing Committee or Ward Committees, so it is resorting to buying people. Because we exposed the BJP’s horse-trading attempts during the Mayor election, they are now staging a drama by pretending these defections are from another party,” it read.
The Delhi Congress said AAP is paying a heavy price for Arvind Kejriwal’s weak leadership. “Due to its corruption and misuse of power, it is now battling an existential crisis in the Capital due to Kejriwal’s weak leadership,” the party's statement read.