Fresh trouble for AAP: Anjali Damania quits over horse trading

The crisis in the Aam Aadmi Party deepened on Wednesday with senior party leader from Mumbai Anjali Damania quitting the party in the wake of reports that Arvind Kejriwal allegedly tried to poach Congress MLAs to form the government in the national capital last year.

Damania, known to be close to Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, lashed out at the party leadership saying she had backed the AAP chief for “principles” and not “horse-trading”.

“I quit...I have not come into AAP for this nonsense. I believed him... I backed Arvind for principles not horse-trading,” she tweeted.

A senior leader from Maharashtra, Damania had unsuccessfully contested from Nagpur constituency against senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari whom she had accused of corruption.

The resignation of Damania comes at a time when the AAP is battling internal strife after two senior leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav criticised Kejriwal openly for his working style.

Former AAP MLA from Rohini, Rajesh Garg alleged that Kejriwal had spoken about breaking the Congress and forming the government with the support of their MLAs in Delhi last year. Garg also circulated an audio clip of a purported telephonic conversation of Kejriwal to back his allegations.