Five-time municipal councillor and senior Congress leader Mukesh Goel joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday, ahead of the civic polls in Delhi early next year.
Along with Mr Goel, about a dozen office-bearers of the Congress, including two-time former councillor Parma Bhai Solanki, also joined the AAP in Delhi in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister and senior party leader Manish Sisodia.
In a statement, the AAP described the development as a "big setback" to the Congress ahead of the municipal elections.
"It is a very happy occasion that our AAP family is expanding further. Goelji, who is joining us along with his supporters, is a big Congress leader," Mr Sisodia said.
Mr Goel, who is serving his fifth term as a municipal councillor in the national capital, was a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), he added.
Welcoming the other leaders into the partyfold, Mr Sisodia said the development indicates a trend where Congress leaders, who want to work for people, are joining the AAP, impressed by the policies and work done under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"Arvind Kejriwal''s model of development is being discussed today not just in Delhi but all over the country. I am quitting the Congress and joining the AAP as I do not consider it right to oppose a party that is working in the interest of people," Mr Goel said.
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