Founder member Ashwini Upadhyay, three others from AAP join BJP

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi, BJP is building a team of former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members to counter the party. After Delhi assembly speaker MS Dhir, AAP's founding member Ashwini Upadhyay and three other members joined BJP on Tuesday. They said they will "expose Arvind Kejriwal" in the upcoming elections.

AAP members Sahlil Kumar, Rajesh Gupta and colonel SC Talwar joined BJP, along with Upadhyay. "We decided to quit the party as it doesn't have a democratic system. Swaraj is limited to just the 'topi' (cap) which AAP members wear. The system is autocratic. The party was formed to fight corruption, casteism, crime and communalism. Today, they are just promoting it,'' said Upadhyay, who forwarded his resignation to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.

BJP, which lost the opportunity to form the government in Delhi last year because of AAP, plans to launch an offensive against the party. In his resignation letter, Upadhyay has questioned Kejriwal on why he didn't consult party members on quitting the government, deciding to contest 434 Lok Sabha seats, fielding tribal activist Soni Sori, not filing an FIR against Sheila Dikshit etc.

Salil Kumar alleged Kejriwal has sidelined all the members and the party is run by a handful of people. "They want to introduce swaraj but don't believe in it. They spent so much money in the selection process during the the Lok Sabha polls, but the candidates were selected by a handful of people,'' said Sahlil kumar.

Welcoming the AAP members, BJP state in charge Prabhat Jha said, "This is the beginning. More people will join in the days to come."