On Monday, Surat’s Aam Aadmi Party councillor Kundan Kothiya joined BJP alleging that she was being harassed by other AAP members in the city. Kundan Kothiya who was elected from ward 4 in the February 2021 elections, donned the saffron scarf in Gandhinagar in the presence of Gujarat BJP general secretary Pradipsinh Vaghela and said that she had to face severe harassment and insult from the other AAP councillors.
According to reports, this is the sixth incident that an AAP corporator from ward 4 Surat has switched to BJP within a year of being elected. Earlier, AAP’s Vipul Movaliya, Bhavna Solanki Jyotika Lathiya, Ruta Kakadiya and Manisha Kukadiya had joined BJP. Kothiya is said to have switched the political party after she was suspended from AAP’s primary membership on the allegations of indiscipline.
AAP’s city unit president Mahendra Patel claimed that Kothiya was involved in anti-party activities. He accused her of recording important calls of the party and circulating them to deliberately defame AAP in public.
“She was being watched due to her behaviour. It was confirmed that she would join BJP after she went unreachable on Sunday. Hence, she was issued a show-cause notice on Sunday itself”, Patel was quoted adding that Kothiya must have received a huge amount to shift the party.
Meanwhile, Kothiya said that AAP was levelling false allegations against her and that she was a committed party worker. “I was falsely accused of circulating an audio clip. AAP leadership did nothing when I complained to them about harassment by another AAP corporator. Instead of justice, I received insults in the party,” she said.
In February last year, 27 of the AAP candidates were elected to the Surat Municipal Corporation elections. However, amid the rumours that one more AAP woman corporator was planning to leave the party, AAP sought public confirmation from its 21 incumbent members that nobody would quit the Arvind Kejriwal-led party from Surat.