Senior AAP MLA and former Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam was inducted into the Congress by its general secretary K.C. Venugopal on Friday.

Once the Dalit face of the party, Gautam fell out of favour with AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after he participated in an annual public recitation of B.R. Ambedkar’s vows, including the renunciation of Hinduism, in 2022.

The BJP had used the incident before the Gujarat Assembly polls to polarise voters against the AAP for being “anti-Hindu”; Gautam was compelled to quit the cabinet. The Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress had also taken to X against Gautam back then but deleted the post later.

Gautam later opposed Kejriwal’s demand for putting Hindu deities on currency notes. In his resignation, Gautam cited his party’s timid response to attempts to change the Prevention of Atrocities Act as well as its nomination of “moneybags” to the Rajya Sabha.

He wrote: “I have been continuously feeling that the Aam Aadmi Party, under immense pressure of the BJP’s ideology, is ignoring the interests of the minority and Bahujan communities. I had hoped that perhaps the party would make some changes in its policy and directly compete with the BJP on the basis of ideology and strongly raise the voice of the exploited, deprived and minority communities. But with a very sad heart I want to tell you that I was disappointed every time. The party supports the savarna (upper) caste MLAs or ministers even when they face all kinds of allegations; but if any allegation is made against a Muslim or a Dalit, even if false, the party immediately dumps that person.”

The AAP’s current Dalit face, MLA Kuldeep Kumar, reacted by saying: “When tickets (for next year’s Delhi Assembly) are in doubt, some jump ship.”

Hours after Gautam defected, an AAP source told reporters: “Alliance talks with the Congress for Haryana are on the verge of breaking down. The AAP is preparing to contest 50 seats.”

But another AAP leader told this paper: “At least one Dalit MLA and one Muslim MLA are in touch with Gautam…. It is important for the AAP and the Congress to unite in Haryana to defeat the BJP, and this defection will not destabilise talks
in this regard (between AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Congress general secretary Deepak Babaria). If we release a list without consulting the Congress, it is because the Congress is not being serious in the talks.”

The AAP had earlier announced that it would contest the state on its own but later welcomed reports that Rahul Gandhi supported an alliance.