In a huge setback to the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital, as many as 13 of its councillors resigned from the party and announced a new political outfit.

Mukesh Goel, once AAP’s Leader of the House in the MCD, leads the group of rebels who quit the party.

Goel, who contested from Adarsh Nagar in the 2025 Assembly elections but lost to BJP’s Raj Kumar Bhatia, announced the name for their outfit – Indraprastha Vikas Party.

This happened just a few days after the BJP took back control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by winning the local elections. The Aam Aadmi Party did not take part in the election.

Ahead of the previous municipal elections, these leaders left the Congress party and joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Goel, who had been a municipal councillor for 25 years, moved from Congress to AAP in 2021.

The latest setback for the party in Delhi comes after it was badly defeated by the BJP in the Assembly elections earlier this year. Since then, the AAP has been facing internal problems.

To deal with the growing dissatisfaction within the party, the AAP made changes to its organisation in March. Former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was made the new president of the party’s Delhi unit. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was given the responsibility of handling Punjab, which will have elections in two years.

Gopal Rai has been put in charge of Gujarat, while AAP’s national general secretary Sandeep Pathak has been made the Chhattisgarh special in-charge.

Source: News18