Two more Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) municipal councillors in Surat shifted to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), taking the total number of councillors to have exited AAP over the past two years to about a dozen.
AAP replaced Congress as the main opposition party in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) with 27 councillors after the elections in 2021. Now, it has just about 15 councillors.
In February last year, six AAP councillors joined the BJP but two of them later returned. Earlier this month, six AAP councillors left the party and joined the BJP.
On Friday, corporators Kanu Gedia and Alpesh Patel joined the BJP at a function where they were welcomed with saffron scarfs and caps.
AAP said the two were removed from all party posts, reportedly following allegations that they were instigating others to quit the party. AAP leader Gopal Italia claimed that the two were offered bribes, a charge rubbished by the BJP.
Gedia told reporters on Friday that the victory in Surat civic polls was due to the personal efforts of the corporators and that there was unrest among AAP workers after the party’s performance in the Gujarat state elections held in December 2022.
BJP leader and SMC standing committee chairman Paresh Patel said those joining them believe in BJP’s ideology of development.
AAP emerged as the primary opposition party after winning 27 seats in the 120-member Surat Municipal Corporation elections in February 2021. AAP managed to secure 28% vote share. The BJP won 93 seats, while the Congress failed to win a single seat.
