AAP MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar, former Delhi minister Raj Kumar Anand join BJP

New Delhi: In a setback for the AAP with Delhi Assembly polls just months away, its MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar and former Minister Raj Kumar Anand, who resigned from the Arvind Kejriwal government during Lok Sabha polls and fought on a BSP ticket, on Wednesday joined the BJP.

Along with the duo, Anand’s wife and former AAP MLA Veena Anand, AAP councillor Umed Singh Phogat and AAP Himachal Pradesh in-charge Ratnesh Gupta Leader and co-incharge Sachin Rai also joined the party in the presence BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and National Media Co-Head Dr Sanjay Mayukh.

AAP claimed that both Anand and Tanwar were under pressure with central agencies coming after them.

Anand, a Dalit who left the AAP accusing Kejriwal of turning a blind eye on corruption, had joined BSP and unsuccessfully fought from New Delhi.

Claiming that there is “great pride” in joining the world's “largest” party, Anand said his primary goal in joining the BJP is to connect Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision directly with the people of Delhi. AAP had alleged earlier that Anand left the party because of an ED summons to him.

“As a minister, I focussed on Dalit welfare. But whenever a wish-list was presented before Kejriwal, he showed no interest. Significant funds from the Dalit welfare fund had been diverted in Delhi over the past nine years under the AAP government,” he said.

He also alleged that AAP did not nominate a single Dalit when it sent 10 MPs to Rajya Sabha from Punjab where the party contested in the name of welfare of Dalits. “Kejriwal and AAP have betrayed the trust and faith of Dalits," Anand claimed.

“To cut votes, the BJP had to make him contest elections from BSP. He contested and forfeited his deposit…It is obvious that the BJP had also kept the sword of investigations hanging over Tanwar ,” the AAP said in a statement.

Tanwar said Delhi has “turned into a hell” due to absence of development works and problems related to water and sanitation. “Delhi is in a bad shape. A party which was born out of a movement to end corruption is deeply steeped in corruption,” he alleged.

Singh said AAP and Congress had contested together but the BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats in the capital owing to the Modi government's developmental work. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies are compassionate towards the welfare of the poor.

Sachdeva claimed Anand had left the AAP accusing it of ant-Dalit while Tanwar also shared his discomfort, likening his experience in the AAP to working under a dictator.