What Led 15 Delhi Councillors to Break Away from AAP and Form a New Party?

A Significant Shift in Delhi's Political Landscape
New Delhi: In a significant blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a group of fifteen municipal councillors in Delhi has officially left the party to establish a new political entity called the Indraprastha Vikas Party.
The leadership of this new party will be taken on by Hemchand Goel, who is joined by notable former AAP figures including Mukesh Goel, Himani Jain, Devindra Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Ladi, Suman Anil Rana, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Runakshi Sharma, Manisha, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Yadav, Usha Sharma, and Ashok Pandey.
Mukesh Goel's exit is particularly significant as he previously held the position of Leader of the House for AAP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
"We have initiated the Indraprastha Vikas Party because we have been unable to perform any public service for the last year or two. The House has been plagued by disruptions, making it difficult to function effectively," Goel stated, suggesting that additional councillors may soon join their ranks.
Interestingly, Goel had previously contested the Delhi Assembly elections in February on an AAP ticket but did not succeed.
The announcement included the names of 13 councillors, as two were not present during the declaration, resulting in their names being omitted.
In their joint resignation letter, the councillors expressed, "All of us Municipal Councillors were elected in the Delhi Municipal Corporation in 2022 on the AAP ticket, but despite our party's victory, the leadership has struggled to manage the corporation effectively."
They pointed out a lack of internal coordination, stating, "The connection between the top leadership and the Municipal Councillors was minimal, which led to the party's opposition status."
The letter concluded with, "Due to our inability to meet public expectations, we, the councillors, are resigning from the primary membership of the party."
This latest wave of resignations adds to a series of challenges faced by the Aam Aadmi Party within the MCD.
Earlier this year, the BJP became the largest party in the civic body after three AAP councillors—Anita Basoya from Andrews Ganj, Nikhil Chaprana from Hari Nagar, and Dharmveer Singh from RK Puram—defected to the BJP.
A similar situation occurred last September when three AAP councillors switched allegiance to the BJP just before a critical standing committee election in the MCD.
In light of these ongoing defections, AAP recently opted out of the mayoral election scheduled for April 25, effectively allowing the BJP to take control of the MCD.