Dearth of own leaders: BJP slams AAP for fielding turncoats in Delhi polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing a shortage of its own leaders as six out of the 11 candidates named in its first list for Delhi Assembly polls are "turncoats" who switched to AAP from the BJP and Congress recently.

The AAP announced its first list for the Assembly elections likely to be held early next year on Thursday, replacing three sitting MLAs and fielding six leaders who recently switched sides from rival parties.

AAP became the first party to release candidates' names for the elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

Claiming that the list reflects a lack of confidence within the ruling party, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, "The first list doesn't name the chief minister, Cabinet ministers or the other prominent leaders who work closely with the government. If AAP wants to win with 'pawns', this list shows its likely fate in Delhi."  Sachdeva also claimed that internal rebellion in AAP would soon become evident to the voters of Delhi.

Announcing the first list of 11 candidates at a presser, AAP minister Gopal Rai rebutted the claims that outsiders who recently joined the party were given tickets at the cost of AAP leaders.

"The names were announced after a meeting of the AAP's political affairs committee headed by our national convenor Arvind Kejriwal," Rai said.

Rai also said the tickets were allotted strictly based on performance, surveys, and public opinion, as promised by Kejriwal.

Calling AAP a party in "decline", senior BJP legislator and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, said in a post on X, "The Aam Aadmi Party is now on the verge of extinction. Today, AAP has a dearth of its own workers and has lost the trust of the public."  As per the list, AAP has fielded Brahm Singh Tanwar from Chhatarpur, Anil Jha from Kirari and B B Tyagi from Laxmi Nagar. All three recently quit the BJP to join AAP.

Similarly, former Congress leader Choudhary Zubair Ahmed has been fielded from Seelampur, while ex-MLAs Veer Singh Dhingan and Somesh Shokeen have been given tickets from Seemapuri and Matiala, respectively. The trio recently joined AAP from the Congress.

Now with AAP taking the lead in releasing its first list of candidates, the political battle in poll-bound Delhi has officially commenced.