Former AAP minister Kapil Mishra joins BJP. (Photo: ANI)Disqualified AAP MLA Kapil Mishra and AAP women’s wing chief Richa Pandey on Saturday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence BJP national vice president Shyam Jaju and Delhi unit president Manoj Tiwari at the party office on Pant Marg.
Tiwari welcomed the duo and said, “Hope they will serve Delhi by following the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and philosophy of Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Syama Prasad Mookerjee.”
A former minister in Arvind Kejriwal’s government, Mishra had campaigned for the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls in May and also championed various causes as the “sympathiser” of the party. Following this, on August 2, Delhi Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had disqualified him from the Assembly under the anti-defection law. Mishra had then challenged his disqualification in Delhi High court.
On Friday, Mishra had said, “I am joining the BJP to work for Modi ji and his vision for the nation. I strongly believe that the time has come to end negativity in Delhi, and Delhi should also walk with Modi. Now, I will reach out to various AAP volunteers and Anna Movement activists and will make all of them join the BJP in the coming days.”
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Incidentally, as an AAP MLA, Mishra was one of the most vocal critics of Modi and BJP’s Amit Shah. His remark terming the PM an “ISI agent” after the attack on the Pathankot airbase had triggered a huge controversy. The Indian government had at the time allowed an ISI team to inspect the base.
However, speculations over Mishra joining the BJP were making rounds ever since he started criticising the AAP supremo Kejriwal after being removed as a minister in May 2017.
(With inputs from PTI)
