15 Delhi councillors break away from AAP, form ‘Indraprastha Vikas Party’

New Delhi: In a major jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), fifteen municipal councillors in Delhi have resigned from the party and announced the formation of a separate political party named the Indraprastha Vikas Party.

The newly-formed front will be led by Hemchand Goel, with prominent former AAP leaders such as Mukesh Goel, Himani Jain, Devindra Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Ladi, Suman Anil Rana, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Runakshi Sharma, Manisha, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Yadav, Usha Sharma, and Ashok Pandey playing key roles in the rebellion.

Among the rebels, Mukesh Goel’s departure carries particular weight as he served as the Leader of the House for AAP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

“We have launched Indraprastha Vikas Party because we were not able to do any public work for the past year or two. The House never functions smoothly due to disruptions,” said Goel, claiming that more councillors might join their new party.

Notably, he had contested the Delhi Assembly elections held in February this year on an AAP ticket but failed to secure a win.

However, the list released includes the names of 13 councillors, as two were absent during the announcement and thus their names and signatures are not included.

The joint resignation letter submitted by the councillors stated, “All of us Municipal Councilors were elected in the Delhi Municipal Corporation in the year 2022 on the ticket of Aam Aadmi Party, but despite coming to power in the Delhi Municipal Corporation in 2022, the top leadership of the party was unable to run the Delhi Municipal Corporation smoothly.”

They further highlighted a breakdown in internal coordination, noting, “The coordination between the top leadership and the Municipal Councillors was negligible, due to which the party came into the opposition.”

The letter added, “As we were not able to fulfil the promise made to the public, we, the councillors, are resigning from the primary membership of the party.”

This fresh round of resignations is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Aam Aadmi Party within the MCD.

Earlier in February, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the civic body after three AAP councillors — Anita Basoya from Andrews Ganj, Nikhil Chaprana from Hari Nagar, and Dharmveer Singh from RK Puram — defected to the BJP.

A similar exodus occurred in September last year when three AAP councillors switched to the BJP just a day before a crucial standing committee election within the MCD.

Amid these ongoing defections, AAP recently withdrew from the mayoral race scheduled for April 25, effectively paving the way for the BJP to take charge of the MCD.

IANS