New Delhi: In a dramatic political shake-up in the national capital, 13 councillors of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) resigned from the party’s primary membership on Saturday, announcing plans to form a new political outfit under the leadership of senior municipal politician Mukesh Goel. The move is being seen as a major setback for AAP’s hold over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The new party, which will be called the Indraprastha Vikas Party, aims to prioritize local development, which the rebel councillors allege had been ignored under AAP’s leadership.
Mukesh Goel, a veteran councillor with 25 years of experience, was formerly with the Congress before joining AAP in 2021. He also served as Leader of the House in the MCD for the Aam Aadmi Party.
Among those who resigned are Hemchand Goyal, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Himani Jain, Usha Sharma, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Kumar, Ashok Pandey, Rajesh Kumar, Anil Rana, Devendra Kumar, and Himani Jain—many of whom expressed frustration over the lack of support from AAP’s top brass.
Speaking to news agency, Ashok Pandey, councillor from Ward 109 (Vikas Nagar), stated: “We came here to work for development of our ward. The work is not happening. We were in Aam Aadmi Party for 2.5 years, our main issue was that our colony was unauthorised. So, people were facing issues of garbage and drainage… We didn’t get funds from party to work. We tried to talk to AAP’s senior leadership but there was no action.”
The rebel councillors allege chronic fund denial, neglect of grassroots issues, and failure of communication from AAP’s leadership as core reasons behind the mass exodus.
