Sarita Phogat, the councilor from the Green Park area of South Delhi, rejoined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) within a month after she parted ways from the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
She rejoined the AAP in the presence of senior party leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
Sisodia wrote in a post on X, “Sarita Phogat, councilor from Malviya Nagar, has left BJP and returned to the AAP family. She has been a diligent worker of the party since its inception.”
“Today she has started working with the resolve to reinstate Arvind Kejriwal as the Chief Minister’s chair,” he added.
It may be mentioned that Phogat, along with two other councilors, Praveen Kumar, Preeti, joined the BJP on September 25, in the presence of Delhi BJP chief Virender Sachdeva and Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotara.
Phogat’s move is crucial for the AAP as the party had fallen short of a majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). With her joining the party, the tally of AAP councilors has reached 122, three short of the majority mark while the BJP councilors’ tally stands at 117.
The AAP ended BJP’s 15-year rule in MCD in 2022 bagging 134 seats while the saffron party managed victory on 104 seats. However, the AAP’s tally has come down as a result of several councilors defecting to the BJP over a period of two years.