BJP 'use and throw' party, councillors who switched will be sidelined after MCD panel polls: AAP

BJP 'use and throw' party, councillors who switched will be sidelined after MCD panel polls: AAP

The BJP is a "use and throw" party and the five AAP councillors who have joined it will be sidelined after the MCD Standing Committee elections, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said on Monday.

Any leader who quits the AAP is "politically ruined", the Rajya Sabha MP said at a press conference here.

In a setback to the AAP, five of its councillors joined the BJP on Sunday, boosting the saffron party's chances of securing a majority in the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said at a media briefing that these councillors were troubled by the "pressure to indulge in corruption" and gather crowds for AAP leaders.

At the press conference on Monday, Singh said the AAP's mathematics appears "spoiled" sometimes but ultimately everything goes according to plan and this will be evident in the Standing Committee elections.

The BJP is a "use and throw" party that discards political leaders who join it after using them. These five councillors will also be sidelined after the Standing Committee elections, he said.

"I have repeatedly said that those who quit the AAP will be politically ruined. This is the blessing of the Almighty that those who leave the party never become MP, MLA or councillor," he added.

The AAP councillors who switched sides are Ramchandra (Ward 28), Pawan Sehrawat (Ward 30), Mamata Pawan (Ward 177), Sugandha Bidhuri (Ward 178) and Manju Nirmal of Ward 180.

With these councillors joining the BJP, the party is expecting to get a majority in the 18-member Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body of the MCD.

The AAP had won 134 of the 250 MCD wards in the 2022 polls. With five of its councillors gone, its strength has come down to 127 and the BJP's has gone up to 112.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, six of the 18 members of the Standing Committee are elected from the House while the remaining 12 are elected from the ward committees constituted in each of the 12 zones of the civic body.