Brijesh Kalappa claims, 'AAP reaching out like other parties' after he quits Congress

Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate Brijesh Kalappa, after leaving Congress recently, hinted that Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in touch with him. Talking to News Agency ANI, the Congress leader added that though he has not yet made any confirmed decision, there have been offers for him from various parties including AAP. He said, "AAP is certainly reaching out to me like other parties, but I have not made a decision."

Brijesh Kalappa leaves Congress

As the top leaders from the grand old party are leaving Congress and joining key rivals like BJP, Brijesh Kalappa announced that he is now not associated with the party. Resigning through a Facebook post, the old guard of Congress in Karnataka said he will "resign from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress and end an association that began in 1997."

Citing his work and the major reasons behind his decision to leave the party the leader said, "I have been representing the Party on Hindi, English and Kannada channels since the UPA years in 2013- for almost a decade and have clocked 6497 debates. Besides, the Party has been regularly assigning Political work to me which I have performed to the best of my satisfaction. Regarding TV debates, I have done my very best at all times and have never ever appeared without adequate preparation for any debate. Even at the worst of times for the Party in the aftermath of 2014 and 2019 debacles, I have never felt enervated and lacking in energy and enthusiasm. But, in the recent past, I have been finding myself lacking in passion, while my own performance has been listless and perfunctory."

Congress suffers yet another blow

In recent times, multiple key leaders have left the Congress party to join other parties. Brijesh Kalappa's exit is considered a big blow for the Congress in Karnataka ahead of assembly polls scheduled in 2023. Notably, Kalappa is not the first exit from the party as another key leader Kapil Sibal, who was also associated with the G-23 group, left the association. Kapil Sibal later filed his nomination as an independent candidate with the backing of the Samajwadi Party from Uttar Pradesh.

Furthermore, Gujarat's working president of the Congress, Hardik Patel, left the grand old party and is very likely to join the BJP ahead of Gujarat assembly polls scheduled later in 2022. Former Union Minister RPN Singh also quit the party and joined the saffron party just before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Adding more to the list, ex-CM of Punjab Amarinder Singh, after being dumped as the CM of the state, formed his new party namely Punjab Lok Congress and contested the state polls. Sunil Jakhar, senior leader from Punjab, also dumped the grand old and joined hands with BJP. The leader alleged that his nationalist voice was being suppressed in Congress.