Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand quits AAP, takes parting shot at Arvind Kejriwal

Raaj Kumar Anand’s resignation comes as a huge blow to the AAP after the arrest of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last month

NEW DELHI: Delhi social welfare minister Raaj Kumar Anand on Wednesday resigned from the cabinet and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying he joined the party to fight corruption but the party leaders had ended up trapped in corruption.

Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand speaks to the media after he resigned from the cabinet and quit the AAP on Wednesday (PTI)

“I am very pained today. I came into politics when Arvind Kejriwal said that politics will change and the country will change. But today I am saying with regret that the politics did not change, the politician changed. AAP was born against corruption, but today this party is trapped in corruption,” Anand, a Patel Nagar legislator, said at a Press conference on Wednesday to announce his resignation.

Wednesday’s development comes as a huge blow to AAP after the arrest of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last month over alleged irregularities in the 2021-22 excise policy. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is already in jail in the same case.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who recently walked out of prison on bail after being held in Tihar jail for six months, linked Anand’s surprise move to pressure from federal agencies. “This proves that the BJP’s target is to break AAP. Raaj Kumar Anand was raided by the ED and all BJP leaders called him corrupt,” Singh said.

On November 2 last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided 12 premises including Anand’s residence in the Civil Lines area. Officials then said the searches were carried out against him as part of a money laundering probe based on a charge sheet filed by the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence that accuses Anand of false declarations in the import of certain items, leading to a customs evasion of more than ₹7 crore.

“It has become difficult for me to hold the office of the minister and work in this government. I am resigning from the minister and the party’s membership because I do not want to get my name included in the corrupt practices. I do not believe that we have the moral power to govern anymore,” Anand, who was also a member of AAP’s national council. said at a Press conference to announce his exit.

Anand’s resignation from AAP comes a day after the Delhi high court rejected Kejriwal’s petition to release him from jail, noting that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sufficient evidence “at this stage which points out towards the guilt” of the AAP convener for the commission of the offence of money laundering in connection to the excise policy case.

Anand was sworn in as minister in November 2022, replacing Rajendra Pal Gautam, who resigned as social welfare minister after his presence at a religious conversion event sparked a political controversy in October 2022.

Anand said he won’t be joining any other party. But he was unsparing in his attacks on AAP.

“I joined AAP and Arvind Kejriwal to pay back to society. They talked about walking the path shown by Bhim Rao Ambedkar. They use pictures of Ambedkar in offices but when it comes to implementation and representation of Dalits, AAP steps back. There is no respect for Dalit leaders in AAP. In the top leadership of the party, there is no Dalit and no Dalit leader is given big political responsibility which makes Dalit leaders of AAP feel cheated. It had become difficult for me to stay in this party. I have sent my resignation,” said Anand.

Raaj Kumar Anand and his wife joined the anti-corruption movement in 2011 that set the ground for the formation of the AAP, and in the 2013 assembly election his wife Veena Anand won as MLA from Patel Nagar. She was, however, not fielded by the AAP in the 2015 election and the assembly constituency was represented by another AAP leader Hazari Lal Chauhan. Anand won the 2020 assembly election.

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