Ahead of the Delhi Municipal Corporation polls, the party may see at least seven of its councillors leaving Congress.
New Delhi: Ahead of the Delhi Municipal Corporation polls scheduled for April, the Indian National Congress (INC) is likely to witness at least seven of its councillors leaving the party and joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as they are said to be unhappy with the state of affairs in the state unit and also worried about their own political future in Delhi’s Municipal politics. Multiple sources who are closely watching the developments indicated to The Sunday Guardian that these councillors are in touch with the AAP leaders and would switch sides in coming weeks.
One senior Congress functionary who is also a three-term councilor on the condition of anonymity said, “Delhi’s politics in the last five years had become a bi-polar one between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The Congress is not in the contest. In the 2020 assembly polls our candidates lost deposits in many assembly seats. No leader is seeing a bright future of the party as far as Delhi is concerned. So, in likelihood whoever is getting the opportunity will jump the ship. I have knowledge that seven to ten councilors are in touch with the AAP party and few with the BJP. Even after the 2017 Municipal elections, in which our party won 30 seats, in the last four years, 11 councillors have left the party and joined the AAP or the BJP. The list of MCD councilors who have left the party includes Mukesh Goel, who was the Indian National Congress (INC) leader in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).”
Sources in the Aam Aadmi Party had also confirmed leaders from the Indian National Congress would be joining the party before the MCD polls. Between 2017-2021, out of the 30 councillors who had won on Indian national Congress (INC) symbol, 10 had already joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Delhi is divided into three municipal corporations, North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations. The BJP has been ruling all three MCDs since 2012.
In the 2017 municipal elections, the BJP won 181 of the 270 wards that went to polls to secure control of all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi—North, South and East. In the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the saffron party had won 64 of 103 wards, in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation the BJP 47 of 63 wards while in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation the BJP won 70 of 104 wards and retained its 10-year hold on the capital’s three civic bodies. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won 48 seats and emerged as the main opposition party in the MCD politics.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Ravi Prakash Pandey, a political commentator based in New Delhi who had seen MCD politics for two decades, said, “Yes, a few Congress councilors might leave the party before the MCD polls. The Congress had evaporated from Delhi’s politics. In the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls, the party was not able to win a single Assembly segment. In the 2008 Assembly elections, it had won 40.3% popular votes, while just in seven years’ time, its vote share came down to roughly nine percent in 2015 and in 2020 it polled just four percent. Even in the MCD elections, its vote share dipped from 38% in 2007 to 19-20% in 2017. Hence, strong leaders and workers are leaving it in huge numbers if they are getting opportunity in other parties be it AAP or the BJP. The AAP also needs strong candidates for the MCD elections. Out of 270 wards, it had won in only 48 wards in 2017. Hence, it would like to accommodate leaders from the Congress, who are strong at the grassroots level.”