Reacting to the recent exit of former Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot to the BJP, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference that he was free to make his own choices. “He is free. He can go wherever he wants,” Kejriwal said after Gahlot submitted his resignation to him citing erosion of values and the shift away from AAP’s core agenda of serving the interest of the common man.
Kejriwal extended good wishes for Gahlot, saying, “It is good, he worked with us for 10 years without any pressure, and he left for BJP too without pressure”. The remark was in relation to Gahlot’s assertion that no external force prompted his move.
In the resignation letter, Gahlot said he was quitting due to the non-fulfillment of the promises made and recent controversies. The MLA of Najafgarh and former close aide of Kejriwal submitted his resignation from the council of ministers, which was later accepted by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi.
In the letter, Gahlot attacked the party for its inability to fulfill important commitments and underlined the promise regarding cleaning the Yamuna River. “We had promised the people a cleaner Yamuna but we have failed to deliver on that commitment,” he wrote.
He also referred to the controversy over Kejriwal’s new official residence: “There are several embarrassing and bizarre issues like Sheeshmahal which have now led people to question whether we still believe in being the party of the common man.”
Following his resignation, senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak termed Gahlot’s move as a fallout of the latter being under the scanners of central probe agencies, such as the ED and Income Tax Department, uninterruptedly for many months.
