New Delhi: Just days before Delhi Assembly elections voting, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a major setback. Seven MLAs on Friday resigned from the primary membership of the party after being denied tickets for the election.
The MLAs who have stepped down include Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Madanlal (Kasturba Nagar), Bhavana Gaur (Palam), BS June (Bijwasan), Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), and Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli).
Rohit Mehraulia’s letter to Kejriwal
While resigning, Rohit Mehraulia wrote a letter to former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, expressing his disappointment. He said, “I left my 15-year-old job during the Anna movement and joined you, believing that you would fulfill Baba Saheb’s dream of social justice and equality for my community, which has suffered from untouchability, discrimination, and exploitation for centuries.”
He further mentioned that Kejriwal had promised to work for the upliftment of the Dalit and Valmiki communities. “You have said many times on public platforms that when we come to power, we will work for the progress of the Dalit community/Valmiki community. We will make contract workers permanent and completely stop the practice of contracting. Trusting your words, my community gave you one-sided support, which helped you form the government in Delhi three times.”
However, he claimed that AAP had failed to fulfill its promises. “Despite this, neither the contract system was stopped nor the workers who have been in temporary jobs for over 20 years were made permanent. In the end, you have done nothing to stop the discrimination and exploitation of my community. Instead, you have only used my community as a vote bank to fulfill your political ambitions.”
Naresh Yadav voices disappointment in resignation letter
Similarly, Naresh Yadav, MLA from Mehrauli, also voiced his disappointment in his resignation letter. He said, “AAP was born from the Anna movement against corruption, with the goal of eliminating corruption from politics. But now, I am very sad that AAP has failed to reduce corruption at all. Instead, the party itself has become trapped in corruption.”
Yadav added that he had joined AAP for its promise of honest politics but no longer sees honesty in the party. “I joined AAP for the politics of honesty. But today, honesty is nowhere to be seen. I have worked with 100% honesty for the last 10 years in Mehrauli. The people of my constituency know that I have done politics based on integrity, good behavior, and development.”
He claimed that people in his constituency also feel AAP has strayed from its path. “I spoke to many people in Mehrauli, and they all said that AAP is now completely involved in corruption. They told me I should leave this party because it has betrayed the people. AAP once promised honest politics, but today, it is deeply involved in corruption.”
