The Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi Unit spokesperson Poonam Azad will join the Aam Aadmi Party on November 13, AAP leader Sanjay Singh announced on Tuesday. Poonam Azad, whose husband Kirti Azad has been suspended from the BJP, has refused to comment on the matter and said she would make a statement after joining the AAP, IANS reported.
The new agency quoted unidentified officials, who said, "She was denied a ticket in the past two Assembly polls only because a senior BJP leader had reservations against the family. Even her son was denied a ticket for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections." In 2003, she had contested the Assembly polls against former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
The BJP had suspended Kirti Azad for defying its orders and publicly attacking Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 23, 2015. The former cricketer had alleged irregularities in the working of the Delhi and District Cricket Association during Jaitley's tenure as its president. He had accused Jaitley of turning a blind eye to the corruption that allegedly flourished under his reign.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party was the first to target Jaitley regarding the alleged DDCA corruption, had tweeted, "Kirti Azad's mistake was that he spoke up against corruption. Today, the BJP has got completely exposed."
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