New Delhi, Apr 25: Defected AAP MP Swati Maliwal on Saturday alleged that her former party had “strayed far” from its original principles, and its leader Arvind Kejriwal is no longer the same.
Barely a year after losing power to the BJP in Delhi, AAP suffered its greatest jolt on Friday when seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha and Maliwal, quit the party.
The other defectors were Sandeep Pathak, a key face of the party organisation, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney.
Maliwal, who joined the BJP after defecting, praised the “decisive and strong leadership” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I left my home, lived in slums for seven years, quit my job and supported every movement. But when I tried to file an FIR after being assaulted, I was beaten up at Kejriwal’s residence by his aide,” Maliwal told PTI Videos.
She claimed that when she tried to pursue the complaint, she was “threatened and pressured” to withdraw it.
“For two years, I was put under pressure to take my case back, but I did not bow down. Because of this, I was not given even a minute to speak in Parliament by the party,” she said.
Maliwal alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party had completely changed and is now known for “lies, corruption and hooliganism.”
“The real betrayal is not leaving the party, but not standing by your own principles. People are not leaving out of fear; they are leaving because of Arvind Kejriwal,” she said.
She claimed that more leaders would quit the party in the coming days.
“No good person can work with him for long. He says one thing and does another,” she said about her former boss.
Maliwal said Kejriwal once projected himself as a “common man” but has since changed.
“There was a time when he carried a Rs 2 pen and wore simple clothes. Today, only his status has changed,” she said, alleging that he built multiple “sheeshmahals” — a coinage by the BJP to impute a lavish lifestyle to Kejriwal.
She also accused Kejriwal of running the Punjab government through “remote control” after AAP’s loss in Delhi.
“The Punjab government has become a personal ATM. Illegal sand mining and drug use are happening openly, and corruption is at its peak,” she alleged.
She also claimed that people in Punjab were unhappy with AAP’s style of functioning.
“Those who once came on scooters now own big houses, cars and businesses. All this is happening under Kejriwal’s protection,” she alleged.
Maliwal said she had joined the BJP after careful consideration, not out of compulsion.
“Under his leadership, India is progressing rapidly and has emerged strong globally due to his diplomacy,” she said about Modi.
Rejecting claims that leaders were joining the BJP due to fear of agencies like the ED and CBI, she said, “I am not someone who can be scared. I have joined wholeheartedly. If I wanted, I could have joined two years ago.”
Meanwhile, AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday said that the party will write to the Rajya Sabha chairman to seek the disqualification of the seven defectors from the Upper House.
“Anti-defection law clearly states that any type of split or faction cannot happen in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. It does not carry any legal recognition, even if it’s a two-thirds majority,” Singh said.
On Friday, he slammed the defection as a work of the BJP under ‘Operation Lotus’, and said that the people of Punjab will not forgive the seven.
Maliwal was elected to the Rajya Sabha from AAP in 2024. Before that, she served as the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women. (PTI)
