Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva with (right) former AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta on Saturday.
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Former two-time Aam Aadmi Party MLA Rajesh Gupta joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday, alleging that he was “sidelined and betrayed”.
“When AAP was founded, many prominent persons enthusiastically joined hands with Arvind Kejriwal, but he betrayed everyone, and one by one, they all chose to leave him… today, unfortunately, I have also joined that list,” said the former Wazirpur MLA.
Countering the allegations, AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said Mr. Gupta had sought a councillor ticket for his wife after losing the 2025 Assembly election. “When the party chose to field grassroots workers in all MCD 12 bypolls wards, Gupta first supported an independent candidate and then decided to leave the party,” said Mr. Bharadwaj.
He said prioritising ground workers energised volunteers, with MLAs and councillors crowdfunding for financially weaker candidates.
BJP Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva, who welcomed Mr. Gupta into his party, said Delhi’s current problems were the outcome of AAP’s 12-year tenure, with senior AAP leaders, including Mr. Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, abandoning Delhi as Mughal ruler Aurangzeb had done.
Published – November 30, 2025 01:41 am IST
