Aam Aadmi Party dissolves all its units in Himachal Pradesh amid defections to BJP
The state unit chief and general secretary were among the four senior leaders who have joined the Hindutva party.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday dissolved all its units in Himachal Pradesh after some of its leaders recently joined the Bhartiya Janata Party, PTI reported.
A new working committee of the party will soon be set up in the hill state, slated to go to elections in November, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain wrote on Twitter.
On Friday, senior leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party in Himachal Pradesh, including state unit President Anup Kesari, General Secretary Satish Thakur and Una district chief Iqbal Singh, joined the BJP, according to ANI.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had inducted them into the party at an event in Delhi.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s state women wing chief Mamta Thakur also joined the BJP in Delhi on Monday, the Hindustan Times reported.
The Aam Aadmi Party downplayed the defections, alleging that the three leaders were tainted and the party had decided to sack Kesari, PTI reported.
“Complaints were received about his [Kesari’s] misbehaviour with women and we were about to terminate him from the party,” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, according to ANI. “Today, the BJP has inducted him. That is his rightful place.”
Meanwhile, Kesari said that the Aam Aadmi Party was full of “fake nationalists and arrogance”.