AAP leader Balbir Jakhar leaves party & joins BJP

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Lok Sabha candidate for the party, Balbir Jakhar and his supporters joined the BJP on Tuesday, PTI reported.

This happens when the Parliament elections are expected in April-May.

In 2019, Jakhar contested from the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency with an AAP ticket but lost to BJP's Parvesh Verma.

At an event at the BJP office, he was welcomed to the saffron party by senior leaders, including state president Virendra Sachdeva.

Jakhar claimed that the BJP is a party where the workers are given top attention and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's welfare policies reach everyone without discrimination, which was not possible in any other government.

Meanwhile, Sachdeva praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to promoting every section of society and women. He claimed that Modi had shown the same.

Further, Sachdeva continued to claim that India made remarkable progress in empowering women in the last ten years under Modi. He pointed out that this year's Republic Day parade had 70 per cent of the participants women.

In another news, hours after quitting his office as judge of the Calcutta High Court, Abhijit Gangopadhyay announced on Tuesday that he would join the BJP. However, he didn't give a clear reply on whether he would contest the assembly polls, PTI reported.

He alleged that the Trinamool Congress in Bengal was "synonymous with corruption" and that he would fight them till the end.

Addressing a press conference, he said, "I will be joining the BJP, possibly on March 7. I am joining the BJP as it is a national party, which is fighting against the corruption of the TMC in Bengal," he said. When asked about contesting the LS polls, he replied, "It is for the BJP leadership to decide whether they want me to fight. Whatever they decide, I will accept."