Kapil Mishra, former minister in Kejriwal govt, joins BJP

New Delhi, Aug 17: Kapil Mishra, close aide of Kejriwal joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of party leaders Manoj Tiwari and Vijay Goel.

Mishra was disqualified under the anti-defection law after he campaigned for the BJP during Lok Sabha elections in May.

"I welcome Kapil Mishra and Richa Pandey into the BJP and hope they will serve Delhi by following the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and philosophy of Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Syama Prasad Mookerjee," Tiwari said after welcoming them.

Speculations over Mishra joining the BJP were making rounds since he started criticising the AAP supremo after being removed as a minister in May 2017. He grew close to many Delhi BJP leaders and often shared stage with them.

His disqualification came into effect from January 27 this year, when he shared dias with Tiwari and then Union minister Vijay Goel against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), according to the order issued by the speaker.

Mishra, elected from Delhi's Karawalnagar seat, has challenged his disqualification in Delhi High court.

Speculations over Mr Mishra joining the BJP were making rounds since he started criticising Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal after being removed as a minister in May 2017.

Subsequently, he grew close to many Delhi BJP leaders and often shared the stage with them at public events.

Two AAP MLAs Devender Sehrawat and Anil Bajpai who joined the BJP during Lok Sabha polls are also facing disqualification proceedings under the anti-defection law. They had claimed that they had not taken membership of the BJP, although they were impressed with the policies of the prime minister.