AAP is very corrupt, I can’t stay here – Minister Rajkumar resigns after making allegations
Bureau Hash#ag News 10 Apr, 2024
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajkumar Anand resigned from his post on Wednesday. He is an MLA from Patel Nagar assembly constituency. He also resigned from the primary membership of Aam Aadmi Party. This is notably the first resignation from the Arvind Kejriwal government after the Delhi CM’s arrest on March 21.
While tendering his resignation, Rajkumar said, “I came into politics when Kejriwal talked about the politics of change and through it talked about changing the country. But today I am saying with great regret that politics has not changed but the leaders have changed. AAP was born out of the movement against corruption, but today this party is stuck in the quagmire of the same corruption. You are a very corrupt party today. I can’t stay here.
Rajkumar accused AAP of not giving due respect to Dalits and persons from backward communities in the party’s organization led by CM Arvind Kejriwal. He said- “It has become impossible for me to work as a part of this government. I tender my resignation from this party, this government and its ministers because I do not want my name to be associated with such corrupt activities. I do not believe that we have the moral right to continue in the government now.” Anand sent his resignation to AAP General Secretary Sandeep Pathak.
Rajkumar himself is surrounded by corruption charges: Rajkumar Anand is under investigation by ED and DRI in an alleged money laundering case related to unaccounted business investments in hawala payments sent to China in 2023. In November last year, after conducting searches at 13 locations including Anand’s premises, the ED alleged that evidence related to unaccounted business investments and hawala payments sent to China in 2023 was recovered from some of his key employees. According to ED, apart from Rs 74 lakh in cash, various incriminating documents/digital records were also recovered from there.
An ED spokesperson said, “ED initiated the investigation based on a complaint lodged by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against Anand and other associated persons/entities for committing offenses under various sections of the Customs Act. According to the complaint, Anand made hawala payments to China and evaded customs duty worth around Rs 7 crore on various imports.