In a big jolt to the ruling Aam Admi Party (AAP), Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, who two months ago vowed to be “Hanuman of Kejriwal”, on Sunday quit the party , joining the exodus of leaders from AAP.The Jat leader is the third minister to have quit the ruling party since last two years. The first to go was Rajendra Pal Gautam, who joined the Congress, followed by Raj Kumar Anand, who crossed over to the BJP.

In his resignation letter, Gahlot obliquely targeted former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by accusing that the party is facing “grave challenges” and wondered if “we still believe in being the ‘Aam Aadmi’”.

An MLA from Najafgarh, Gahlot tendered his resignation from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls. Party sources said his resignation was accepted by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi.

Gahlot shared on X his letter to Kejriwal, “Aam Aadmi Party faces grave challenges. Challenges from within, to the very values that brought us together to AAP. Political ambitions have overtaken our commitment towards people, leaving many promises unfulfilled”, he wrote.

“Take for example the Yamuna, which we had promised to transform into a clean river, but never got around doing it. Now the Yamuna river is perhaps even more polluted than before,” he added .

Gahlot was holding multiple portfolios in the Atishi government like Home, Administrative Reforms, IT and Women and Child Development.

AAP ignored people

The AAP has ignored the rights of the people and has been fighting for its own political agenda only, he alleged.

“Another painful point has been the fact that instead of fighting for peoples rights we have increasingly only been fighting for our own political agenda. This has severely crippled our ability to even deliver basic services to the people of Delhi. It is now obvious that real progress for Delhi cannot happen if the government spends majority of its time fighting with the Centre,” the former Minister said.

Though Arvind Kejriwal refused to speak on Gahlot’s resignation, AAP leaders said Gahlot was facing ED and CBI cases and he had no option left but to join the BJP as some of the leaders have done in the past.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Kailash Gahlot’s resignation is a part of BJP’s dirty politics and conspiracy. The BJP government conducted ED raids on him. Income tax raids were conducted at his residence for several days. BJP put an allegation of ₹112 crores on him. Pressure was created on him, due to which Gahlot had to take this step. He did not have any option other than joining the BJP”.

BJP welcomes Gahlot’s decision

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva welcomed Gahlot’s decision which he said was like showing the mirror to Kejriwal.

“Gahlot has shown the mirror to Kejriwal and told him that he does not want to be a part of Kejriwal and his ‘lootera’ gang. He has taken a very courageous step, and we appreciate this,” Sachdeva said.

Gahlot became a minister for the first time in the Delhi government in 2017, and was again given responsibility when Atishi replaced Kejriwal as the Delhi Chief Minister.

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