Ex-Congress MLA Amrish Gautam joins BJP, Walia threatens to quit

Former Delhi MLA Amrish Gautam on Monday quit the Congress and joined the BJP while former Congress minister AK Walia threatened to quit over ticket distribution for the civic polls.

Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely also expressed concerns over the functioning of the state Congress led by former union minister Ajay Maken.

Gautam, a three-time MLA from Kondli in east Delhi, accused the Congress of fielding candidates for the elections without consulting him. His son Avinash Gautam too joined the BJP.

"We were feeling cornerned in the party. Nobody was willing to listen to our concerns. My self-respect was hurt by senior party leaders like Anand Sharma, P.C. Chacko and Ajay Maken," Amrish Gautam told IANS after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Congress had formed a committee to select candidates for the April 23 civic polls headed by Anand Sharma. Chacko is in-charge of the Congress in Delhi.

"I requested Maken many times to respect the sentiments of the workers. I even told him he was also an MLA and was quite familiar with their sentiments. I told him to take decisions in the interest of the party and its workers. But he ignored me," Gautam told reporters.

"I have left the Congress because my area and workers have been ignored and tickets are being distributed without consulting us. I felt neglected."

Senior Delhi Congress leader Walia too threatened to resign from the party saying he was not happy with the ticket distribution for civic polls.

"I am deeply pained... We keep trying their (leadership) numbers for two-three days but there is no reply. We have to answer the party workers, all the work is stalled.

"Today (Monday) was the final day (of nomination) and things have not been finalised yet," Walia told reporters.

Walia was MLA from Laxmi Nagar in eastern Delhi for four consecutive terms. He was a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government and held Health, Urban Development, Land and Building portfolios.

He was also chairman of Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board.