Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in Gujarat Bhemabhai Chaudhary resigned as vice-president of the State unit on Sunday and joined the Congress along with his supporters and local leaders.
Mr. Chaudhary had been with the AAP since the beginning and was very active in the Banaskantha district of north Gujarat. He also contested the last Assembly election from Banaskantha.
“I have resigned from the AAP and I am joining the Congress to fight the BJP. Only the Congress can take on the BJP in the State,” he said as he was welcomed into the party by State Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil.
Mr. Chaudhary indicated that more AAP leaders would join the Congress. On Saturday too, several local leaders of the AAP from Kheda, Dahod and other districts joined the Congress.
“The Congress party wants the support of every single person to fight the BJP’s misrule in the State. We will welcome anyone who wants to strengthen our hands and join our efforts against the BJP,” Mr. Gohil told mediapersons after he inducted the AAP leaders.
Since he became the party president earlier this year, Mr. Gohil has been actively trying to bring back those leaders and workers who moved out of the party to join the AAP or other political outfits.
So far, more than a dozen leaders who contested the Assembly poll on AAP ticket, as well as their supporters, have joined the Congress across the State.
The AAP won five Assembly seats in the last Assembly poll in December 2022. However, it led to the splitting of anti-BJP votes, which benefited the ruling party in its landslide victory of 156 of the 182 seats in the State. Because of the division in votes, the principal Opposition party lost as many as 35 OBC and tribal-dominated seats across the State.
