In a boost to the Bharatiya Janata Party just four days ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, eight outgoing Aam Aadmi Party MLAs joined the party, along with a large number of supporters, on Saturday.
The MLAs resigned from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday, citing reasons like alleged corruption and the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit's deviation from its ideology.
All the eight legislators were denied poll tickets by the AAP this time.
The MLAs who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party are Vandana Gaur (Palam), Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Girish Soni (Madipur), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Rajesh Rishi (Uttam Nagar), B S Joon (Bijwasan), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli) and Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar).
After resigning from the AAP, they said they had also sent their resignation letters to the Assembly speaker, relinquishing their membership of the House.
The former AAP MLAs said being denied poll tickets is a common thing in politics but as party workers, they were "deeply hurt" to see that tickets were not distributed among dedicated workers, but were instead "sold" to the "highest bidders", according to a statement issued by the Delhi BJP.
The AAP said in a statement that it has several able and well-educated candidates aspiring for poll tickets. Some incumbent MLAs were denied tickets this time, leading to "dissatisfaction", it added.
"For the past few weeks, BJP members have been constantly approaching AAP MLAs who did not get tickets this time, luring them with various offers -- promising positions, power and incentives," the party said.
Former AAP MLA Vijender Garg and several other leaders of the Kejriwal-led party, including Palam councillor Ajay Rai, too joined the BJP in the presence of Baijayant Panda, its national vice-president and the in-charge of the party's Delhi unit, and state president Virendra Sachdeva.
Welcoming the MLAs and leaders to the BJP, Panda said it is a "historic" day as they have gotten rid of "AAPda" (disaster) and hoped that after the February 5 polls, Delhi too will be freed from it.
"The people of Delhi had trusted AAP but now, everyone is leaving the party because that trust has been broken," Panda said.
He reminded the new entrants that for the BJP, the nation comes first, the party second and personal interests last, calling upon them to work together.
The AAP said Kejriwal's true soldiers will stand by the party till their last breath because they did not enter politics for positions like those of MLAs, councillors or ministers.
Under Kejriwal's leadership, the AAP gave poll tickets to ordinary individuals from humble backgrounds and made them MLAs. This is only possible in the AAP, whereas elsewhere, it takes a lifetime just to become a councilor, the party said.
The 70-member Delhi assembly is scheduled to go to polls on February 5, with the results set to be declared on February 8.
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