India News | Guj: Five AAP Corporators of Surat Civic Body Join BJP

Ahmedabad, Feb 4 (PTI) In a major jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Gujarat, five of its corporators from Surat city joined the ruling BJP on Friday claiming ill-treatment and discrimination.

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Refuting the claims made by the turncoats, the AAP's state unit president Gopal Italia said the five corporators of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) had left because the party had not accepted their demand of giving them freedom to make money by illegal means.

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Corporators Vipul Movaliya of ward no. 16, Ruta Kakadia of ward no 3, Jyotika Lathia of ward no. 8, Manisha Kukadiya of ward no. 5 and Bhavna Solani of ward no. 2 of the SMC joined the BJP.

The corporators joined the BJP at the party's headquarters in Gandhinagar in the presence of Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi and state general secretary Pradeepsinh Vaghela.

In its first major victory in Gujarat, 27 AAP candidates had won elections to the SMC in February last year.

While the BJP had retained power in the civic body by winning 93 seats, the AAP had become the only opposition party by winning the remaining 27 seats.

Talking to reporters at BJP headquarters, Bhavna Solanki, a Dalit corporator, claimed that members of the SC, ST and OBC face discrimination in the AAP.

"While AAP leaders make tall claims, the SC, ST and OBC workers like me face discrimination in the party. When we tried to raise a legitimate issue concerning our voters, we were asked to remain silent. Senior leaders used to collect money from corporators to celebrate their birthdays," Solanki alleged.

Movaliya claimed that none of them had taken any money from the BJP to quit the AAP, while Kukadiya said that they are joining the ruling fold to serve people in a better way.

"People sitting in the Surat AAP office stopped us from doing our work. We were even stopped from meeting the mayor to make a representation about issues. I want to tell the people of Surat that we are joining the BJP so that we can serve you in a better way," Kukadiya said.

Meanwhile, AAP leader Italia claimed that Movaliya was behind the defection, as he instigated the other four.

"Movaiya is of the view that the AAP should allow its corporators to make money. He had demanded that corporators be given a free hand to indulge in corruption. When we clearly told him that such activities are not allowed in the party, he instigated the other four and switched over to BJP," Italia said

The party is now taking legal opinion about the defection, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)