In a significant setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital, 13 municipal councillors have quit the party and announced the formation of a new political outfit. The group, led by senior party leader Mukesh Goel, has launched a new party called the Indraprastha Vikas Party, reported India Today.
The announcement was made on Saturday, marking a dramatic turn in Delhi’s political landscape. Addressing the media, Goel, who contested the Delhi Assembly elections from Adarsh Nagar on an AAP ticket earlier this year but lost, confirmed the split and said the new party would work for the betterment of the people of Delhi.
“We are not here to fight for power, but to serve the people. The current leadership has lost touch with the ground reality,” Goel, who was the former Leader of the House in the MCD, said while launching the new party.
The move deepens the crisis within AAP, which has been grappling with internal unrest since its defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls earlier this year. Notably, most of the councillors who have now split from AAP were earlier with the Congress and had joined AAP ahead of the last municipal elections. Goel himself is a seasoned politician, having served as a municipal councillor for over 25 years. He had switched from Congress to AAP in 2021.
This internal rebellion also comes just days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reclaimed control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) following a key victory in the civic polls, which AAP chose to boycott.
In an attempt to contain the growing dissatisfaction within the party ranks, AAP had already initiated a major organisational reshuffle in March. Former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was appointed as the new president of AAP’s Delhi unit. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who remains a prominent face of the party despite legal challenges, was assigned responsibility for Punjab, where elections are due in two years.
Further organisational changes included appointing Gopal Rai as the party’s in-charge of Gujarat and Sandeep Pathak, AAP’s national general secretary, as the special in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
