Politics
Setback For AAP In Poll-Bound Karnataka: Ex-Bengaluru Top Cop Quits Party, Joins BJP
Swarajya Staff
Mar 01, 2023, 02:02 PM | Updated 02:02 PM IST
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In a setback to the Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka, its prominent face and former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Wednesday quit the party and joined the ruling BJP in the poll-bound state.
Rao had joined the AAP after taking voluntary retirement from the police department in April last year.
He had joined the party in New Delhi in the presence of the AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
After joining the BJP in the presence of BJP state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel today, the retired IPS officer said only BJP can strengthen India and bring back the lost glory.
“We all should join hands to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is striving to make ‘Ek Bharat, Samruddh Bharat’ (One India, Prosperous India). I am also impressed by the prominence given to youth and women in the BJP,” Rao told reporters here.
He also said he will seek the guidance of Kateel, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former CM B S Yediyurappa, and other senior BJP leaders.
He alleged that though he was associated with the AAP for about a year, he felt that the party did not have the capability to grow in Karnataka.
Rao's quitting the AAP comes days ahead of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s visit to Karnataka on 4 March.
(With inputs from PTI)
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