After MCD poll rout, Kejriwal tells AAP councillors to record any offers they get from BJP
Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh, co-observer Durgesh Pathak and several others resigned after the party’s massive loss in Delhi.
A day after losing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal is grappling with a series of high-profile resignations, including that of its Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh.
After a meeting with the AAP’s newly-elected councillors, Kejriwal said he had told them not to accept any money from the BJP and to “hit record” when the opposing party called to make them any offers, News18 reported. In a video released by the party, the Delhi chief minister is also seen urging the councillors to be “alert” to corruption around them. “Raise your voice against corruption. They [the BJP] may even try to jail you since the police is with them. But do not be afraid of them. Work with honesty and courage,” he said.
Kejriwal said the councillors should not betray the “sacred movement” and the party. “If you will betray the people or the faith of the people you will never be happy,” he said, adding that God will punish them if they were to accept bribe. He also made the councillors pledge saying, “I pledge, with god as my witness, never to betray the sacred party and the anti-corruption movement.”
Besides Sanjay Singh, his deputy and Punjab co-observer Durgesh Pathak also resigned from his post, Hindustan Times reported. After the civic election results came in on Wednesday, AAP leader Alka Lamba had also offered to quit from all her party posts and as MLA.
मैंने पंजाब के प्रभारी पद से अपना इस्तीफ़ा राष्ट्रीय संयोजक @ArvindKejriwal जी को दे दिया है, दुर्गेश ने भी सह प्रभारी पद छोड़ा।
— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) April 27, 2017
मैं व्यक्तिगत रूप से तीनों वार्डस में हुई हार की जिम्मेदारी लेते हुये पार्टी को अपने सभी पदों से और विधायक पद से इस्तीफ़े की पेशकश करती हूँ।
— Alka Lamba (@LambaAlka) April 26, 2017
The party’s Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey also resigned from his post. “I have resigned from the post of AAP Delhi Convenor and conveyed to National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal to give this responsibility to someone else,” Pandey had tweeted on Wednesday. The party’s Delhi in-charge Ashish Talwar has also resigned.
I have resigned frm d post of AAP Delhi Convenor, conveyed to National Convenor @ArvindKejriwal to give this responsibility to someone else.
— Dilip K. Pandey (@dilipkpandey) April 26, 2017
.@AamAadmiParty Keeping in line with the same tradition, I resigned as Prabhari of Delhi at around 6pm today.
— Ashish Talwar Office (@DelhiTalwar) April 26, 2017
The AAP won only 48 seats out of the 270 in the municipal elections. Its vote share fell from 54% in the 2015 assembly elections to 26% in the civic polls.
Adding to the troubled brew, AAP member Bhagwant Mann said he disagreed with Kejriwal’s claims that electronic voting machines had been tampered with in any polls. He also said that the party’s top leaders were behaving like a “mohalla cricket team”, NDTV reported.
