The Aam Aadmi Party seem to face too much trouble ahead of the Delhi polls. The party is on a streak of losing its MLAs and its MPs. AAP legislator Devinder Singh Sehrawat joined the BJP in the presence of the BJP leader Vijay Goel and Vijendra Gupta. He is the second MLA with ties to the AAP to join the BJP in less than a week. BJP took this opportunity to attack the AAP for the ill treatment of its leader and members.
Devinder Kumar Sherawat was a retired Army Colonel and represented the Bijwasan Assembly constituency in South west Delhi. Mr. Sehrawat, who was suspended from the primary membership of the AAP in September 2016 for publicly alleging that AAP members in Punjab were “exploiting women” in lieu of tickets to contest the Punjab Assembly elections, had not resigned from membership of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. The new BJP member also said that he was not respected by the leader of the party and he meted out with cries of “harassment”.
Devendar Singh said, “I was unceremoniously suspended from the AAP after I raised my voice against party members exploiting women in Punjab and then harassed systematically so I could not perform development work in my constituency,” Sherawat also accused that AAP did not invite him to the meetings and the party did not give respect to his designation as a retired Army officer. The BJP also attacked AAP by criticising the way it has treated an ex-army person and blatantly disrespected him.
AAP and its leadership have constantly disrespected its members which have finally led to their defection. While the party spokes person has vehemently expressed his discontentment, Arvind Kejriwal being the chief commander of the party had put pressure on the members to not leave the party. AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “The legal position is clear – the moment you voluntarily give up the membership of the party on whose symbol you were elected you are liable for disqualification according to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution”
According to him probity in public life demands that a legislator after quitting the party on whose symbol he/she won an election, should immediately resign from the position and seek re-election “but shameless characters might want to continue,”. He thus referred to Devendra Shekhawat as a “shameless character”.
Recently, AAP had accused BJP of horse trading MLAs from AAP, but it is clear that the BJP has had nothing to do with the AAP MLAs defecting. Aam Aadmi Party does not value the virtues of team players and lacks the basic sportsmanship that should be held by a party. Its own MLAs leaving the party is proof that day of AAP’s doom is soon to arrive. Anil Bjapai, an ex AAP MLA also left the party on the same complain of being ill-treated. The force that AAP was known for at the start has now faded away, greed for power has overwhelmed its commitment to serve the people. The party indeed needs to rethink the culture that it was built on. Therefore it is clear that AAP will soon seize to exist while BJP has its door open for all those members of AAP who feel insulted.