AAP MLA Anil Bajpai joins BJP, says not getting 'respect' in party

Anil Bajpai, Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Delhi's Gandhi Nagar, on Friday joined the BJP in presence of Union Minister Vijay Goel.

The move comes just two days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the BJP has approached as many as seven AAP MLAs and offered Rs 10 crore each to its lawmakers allegedly in its bid to buy them.

"I worked with AAP for 15 years. But I was not getting respect in the party. I was also not happy with the way the party was functioning. If you and your family do not get respect in their personal lives then it is better to move ahead. If I had stayed there for longer, it would have been a situation of "committing suicide" for me," Bajpai told ANI.

"In AAP, they used to ask us to bring donations for the party. From where would we get it? You can see my tears to know the kind of behaviour I have been gone through," he added."You pls wait," said Bajpai on being asked if 14 other AAP MLAs were in a bid to join the BJP. Earlier on Thursday, Goel had said that 14 AAP MLAs want to leave the AAP as the party has gone astray from its objectives.Asserting that the BJP does not need to buy AAP MLAs, Goel had said, "14 AAP MLAs want to leave the party because the party has gone astray from its objectives but the BJP does not need to buy these MLAs. Allegations of the BJP offering Rs 10 crores are false."

Citing the exit of leaders from AAP in the past Goel had said, "Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Shazia Ilmi and many others left the party saying they are feeling stifled in the party. The party which had come to fight corruption started resorting to corrupt practices."All 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi are going to polls in a single phase on May 12. General elections in the country are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting from April 11 and ending on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.