In a setback for AAP in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), 13 councillors resigned from the party on Saturday and announced the formation of a new outfit - Indraprastha Vikas Party - citing stalled development work and growing internal discontent.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, alleged that the ruling BJP was behind the defections and its councillors were offered Rs five crore each as part of a "horse-trading operation".
There was no immediate reaction from the BJP.
Senior councillor Mukesh Goyal, who will head the new party, told PTI, "In the two and a half years since our election, no development work has been carried out. The party (AAP) was too busy with internal conflicts and blame games."
He claimed councillors were not given budgets for developmental work and asserted that the new outfit aims to focus on public welfare and the smooth functioning of the MCD. The move, he said, was confined to the civic body and not aimed at state-level politics.
Among those who have joined the outfit are veteran municipal leader Hemchand Goyal and former AAP councillors Dinesh Bharadwaj, Himani Jain, Usha Sharma, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Kumar, Ashok Pandey, Rajesh Kumar and Anil Rana.
In its official response, AAP alleged, "Since the time of the Mayor election, the BJP has been trying to poach our councillors. Each councillor was offered five crore."
"The BJP does not have a majority to form the Standing Committee or ward committees, so it is resorting to buying people.
"Because we exposed the BJP's horse-trading attempts during the Mayor election itself, they are now staging a drama by pretending these defections are from another party. But make no mistake, this is a BJP operation from start to finish," the Aam Aadmi Party claimed.
With the resignation of 13 councillors, AAP's strength in the 250-member House has come down from 113 to 100. The BJP currently holds the largest number of seats with 117 councillors, while the Congress has 8.
Notably, the anti-defection law does not apply to municipal bodies like the MCD.
