The only Dalit minister in the Delhi government, Raaj Kumar Anand, quit his post and the AAP on Wednesday, citing corruption and under-representation of Dalits in the party.

Addressing a media conference here, Anand said he had realised his party was corrupt after Delhi High Court denied chief minister Arvind Kejriwal bail in the excise policy-linked money-laundering case.

Anand was holding various portfolios, including social welfare, labour and employment.

Anand hasn’t joined any other party yet, but his resignation comes at a time at least five AAP MPs from Punjab are under glare for staying away from the protests against Kejriwal’s arrest.

Anand told reporters: “The party was the outcome of an anti-corruption movement but is now mired in corruption.... After the HC order, I feel we are in the wrong.”

He said there were no Dalits in the higher echelons of the party and that the members
of the community couldn’t even get the sought-after legislative fellowships.

The AAP claimed Anand was under pressure after a raid by the Enforcement Directorate last year. The party also said that Anand had retweeted AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s video slamming Tihar jail for delaying a meeting between Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann less than two hours before announcing his resignation to the media.

Anand, a businessman, is facing a case for false declaration of imports, thereby evading customs duty. The ED had raided him in connection with the case and summoned him on April 12.

Singh, recently released on bail, told reporters: “Have sympathy for Raaj Kumar Anand but remember that this is the time that the brave are tested.”

AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said: “Anand had told party colleagues that whenever he gets active he gets phone calls. If a minister can be terrorised like this, imagine the plight of the common people. What will these (NDA) people do if they are elected back to power (in the Centre)?”