Delhi: AAP's transgender councillor joins new outfit floated by party rebels

New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) Three days after a split in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the municipal House, one more disgruntled party councillor – a transgender - joined the newly-formed Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP) floated by 15 erstwhile members of Arvind Kejriwal’s party.

Bobby Kinnar, the lone transgender councillor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi who was elected from Sultanpuri, wrote a letter to Mayor Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh of the BJP and informed him about the decision to join (IVP).

“I am joining the IVP and plan to follow all instructions of the party,” wrote Bobby in the letter.

Earlier on May 17, 15 municipal councillors who were elected on the AAP ticket resigned from the party and announced the formation of a separate Indraprastha Vikas Party.

The newly-formed front is led by Hemchand Goel, with prominent former AAP leaders such as Mukesh Goel, Himani Jain, Devindra Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Ladi, Suman Anil Rana, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Runakshi Sharma, Manisha, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Yadav, Usha Sharma, and Ashok Pandey playing key roles in the rebellion.

Mukesh Goel's departure from AAP was seen as a political setback for Kejriwal’s outfit, as he had earlier served as the Leader of the House for the party in the municipal House.

"We have launched Indraprastha Vikas Party because we were not able to do any public work for the past year or two. The House never functions smoothly due to disruptions," said Goel, claiming that more councillors might join their new party.

Notably, Goel had contested the Delhi Assembly elections held in February this year on an AAP ticket but failed to secure a win.

A joint resignation letter submitted by the AAP councillors said, "All of us municipal councillors were elected to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2022 on the ticket of Aam Aadmi Party, but despite coming to power, the top leadership of the party was unable to run the Corporation smoothly."

They further highlighted a breakdown in internal coordination, noting, "The coordination between the top leadership and the municipal councillors is negligible, due to which the party’s numbers have dwindled and it has been reduced to play the role of an Opposition party."

The letter added, "As we were not able to fulfil the promise made to the public, we, the councillors, are resigning from the primary membership of the party."

The fresh round of resignations in the MCD is the latest in a series of setbacks for the AAP in the MCD.

Earlier in February, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the civic body after three AAP councillors - Anita Basoya from Andrews Ganj, Nikhil Chaprana from Hari Nagar, and Dharmveer Singh from R.K. Puram - defected to the BJP.

A similar exodus occurred in September last year when three AAP councillors switched to the BJP just a day before a crucial standing committee election within the MCD.

Amid these ongoing defections, AAP recently withdrew from the mayoral race scheduled for April 25, effectively paving the way for the BJP to take charge of the MCD.

--IANS

rch/dan