15 AAP Councillors Resign, Launch ‘Indraprastha Vikas Party’ in Delhi

In a significant blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), fifteen municipal councillors in Delhi have resigned from the party and declared that they have formed a new political party called the Indraprastha Vikas Party.

The newly-formed front will be 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.

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Among the rebels, Mukesh Goel's defection carries a little extra significance because he was the Leader of the House for AAP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

"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, he contested the Delhi Assembly elections held in February this year as an AAP candidate, but did not win.

However, the list released contains the names of 13 councillors because two did not attend when the announcement was made; therefore their names/signatures did not appear in the list.

They further highlighted a breakdown in internal coordination, noting, "The coordination between the top leadership and the Municipal Councillors was negligible, due to which the party came into the opposition."

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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."

This latest round of councillor resignations is not the first setback for the Aam Aadmi Party in the MCD.

Back in February earlier this year, the BJP became 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 RK Puram--defected to the BJP.

There was even a similar defection last September when three AAP councillors defected to the BJP just one day prior to the important standing committee election for the MCD.

In the midst of this defection, AAP recently withdrew their candidates for the mayor's election that was planned for April 25, which will now allow the BJP to take control of the MCD.

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