MCD polls | Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar confirms two councillors are still with the party

On December 9, two of the Congress’s winning candidates in the MCD polls had joined the AAP, along Delhi unit vice president Ali Mehdi

Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar on December 10 confirmed that the Delhi unit’s Vice-president Ali Mehdi and two councillors are still with the party, a day after the latter had defected to the AAP.

On December 9, two of the Congress’s winning candidates in the MCD polls — Sabeela Begum from the Mustafabad ward and Nazia Khatoon from the Brijpuri ward — had joined the AAP, along Mr. Mehdi.

“We won nine seats in the MCD polls, and we have nine councillors, they are a part of the Congress family. What Arvind Kejriwal’s and his ministers are indulging into is nothing but dirty politics,” he said, in the presence of Mr. Mehdi and the two councillors.

Earlier this year, AAP had accused the BJP of poaching its MLAs in Delhi and Punjab through “Operation Lotus”.

BJP leaders including national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala and Delhi unit media cell head Harish Khurana at a press conference in Delhi on December 10 alleged the AAP of trying to poach the party’s newly elected councillors.

Mr. Poonawala alleged a “new model” of the AAP — “Pralobhan for Parshad” (alluring councillors) — has come to the fore. The allegations of the BJP have come close to two Congress councillors joining the AAP on December 9. The deserters, however, came back to their party hours after switching to the AAP.

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