Kailash Gahlot Resigns as Delhi Minister, Quits AAP

New Delhi: In a major setback for the AAP ahead of the coming Assembly elections in Delhi, home and transport minister Kailash Gahlot on Sunday resigned from the primary membership of the party and the council of ministers. Hours later, the BJP’s Purvanchali leader and two-time former MLA from Kirari Anil Jha joined the AAP in the presence of party supremo Arvind Kejriwal.

With Mr Gahlot’s resignation, four MLAs, including three ministers, have quit the AAP -- Rajendra Pal Gautam, who joined the Congress in September, Patel Nagar and Chattarpur MLAs Raaj Kumar Anand and Kartar Singh Tanwar, who joined the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls.

Mr Gahlot, a two-time MLA from Najafgarh, also in-charge of the portfolios of administrative reforms, IT and women and child development, announced his resignation on X (formerly Twitter). Chief minister Atishi has accepted his resignation and reportedly kept all his portfolios with herself.

In a letter addressed to AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Gahlot said the party has moved from fighting for the people’s rights to fighting for its own political agenda. He started off by thanking Mr Kejriwal for the opportunity to serve the people of Delhi. “Let me start with sincerely thanking you for having given me the honour of serving and representing the people of Delhi as an MLA and a minister. However, at the same time, I also want to share with you that today the Aam Aadmi Party faces grave challenges.”

Listing out these challenges, Mr Gahlot wrote: “Political ambitions have overtaken our commitment towards the people, leaving many promises unfulfilled. Take for example the Yamuna, which we had promised to transform into a clean river, but never got around to doing it. Now the Yamuna River is perhaps even more polluted than ever before.”

Speaking about the renovation of the CM’s house in Civil Lines, Mr Gahlot said: “Apart from this, now there are many embarrassing and awkward controversies like the ‘sheeshmahal’, which are now making everyone doubt whether we still believe in being the Aam Aadmi.” His reference to the “sheeshmahal” controversy comes against the backdrop of BJP leaders’ accusations that Mr Kejriwal has spent crores of rupees on lavish items and modern facilities at his former official residence at 6 Flagstaff Road. The BJP dubbed Mr Kejriwal’s earlier residence as “sheeshmahal”.

Meanwhile, Mr Jha joined the AAP, citing disillusionment with the BJP’s leadership and policies. Known for his strong grassroots presence, his move is seen as a potential boost for AAP in an area long considered a BJP stronghold.

Welcoming Mr Jha to the AAP at the party headquarters, Mr Kejriwal dubbed him as one of the “biggest” Purvanchali leaders in Delhi politics. The AAP supremo said he will boost the AAP not only in Kirari but all over the city. He, however, refused to comment on Mr Gahlot’s resignation from the AAP.

Mr Jha, who may replace the sitting AAP MLA from Kirari in the Delhi Assembly polls, lauded Mr Kejriwal saying he was influenced by his personality and the work done by the AAP government to improve the lives of Purvanchali people living in unauthorised colonies of the city.

Mr Kejriwal alleged that while the AAP government built 10,000 km of roads and streets, laid 6,800 km of sewer lines and provided piped water in 1,650 unauthorised colonies, “the BJP did nothing”. “I want to ask the BJP and its leader Amit Shah why should Purvanchali people vote for the party. I challenge them to tell one thing they did for the Purvanchali people in Delhi. They promised the registry of properties in these colonies but not a single one could be done in five years,” he said.

Reacting to Mr Gahlot’s resignation, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said: “Since the past few months, all of us knew that Gahlot ji was facing income-tax raids. He was left with no option but to join the BJP. This is what the BJP does -- they used the ED and CBI to win elections.”

In March, Mr Gahlot was summoned by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case. This was, however, before all AAP leaders and the accused in the case were granted bail. In 2018, several locations linked to Mr Gahlot and his family members were raided by the income-tax department, alleging tax evasion worth several crores of rupees.

Welcoming Mr Gahlot’s move, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said he has taken a brave step by resigning from the AAP. “Mr Gahlot stepped down and raised the same issues for which the BJP was protesting and fighting against Mr Kejriwal proves that even the AAP leaders do not consider their party chief as an honest politician,” he added.

In a swipe at the AAP, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said it has undergone “political conversion” to become “khas” (privileged). He said: “Every person who left the party was disillusioned because the Aam Aadmi Party has now become a party only for Arvind Kejriwal. It has become the Arvind Aadmi Party.”