New Delhi: In a major setback to the ruling Aam Admi Party in Delhi, former minister and the party's MLA from the Seemapuri constituency of South East Delhi, Rajendra Pal Gautam has left the party to join Congress. He was one of the founding members of the party and is recognised as a Dalit leader. He joined the Congress in the presence of party leaders K. C. Venugopal, Devender Yadav, and Pawan Khera.
Aam Aadmi Party's National Executive Member Rajendra Pal Gautam has been a Cabinet Minister of Delhi in 2015. He had the portfolios of Social Welfare, SC and ST, Gurdwara Elections, and Registrar of Cooperative Societies. Rajendra Pal Gautam has previously incurred the displeasure of the party following his remarks on the issue of conversion at an event in October 2022. A few days later, Rajendra Pal Gautam resigned from the post of Cabinet Minister of Delhi Government. In his place, the party made Dalit leader Rajkumar Anand, MLA from Patel Nagar, a minister. But Rajkumar Anand also resigned just before the Lok Sabha elections and joined the BSP after which he joined the BJP.
#WATCH | Delhi AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam joins Congress in the presence of party's general secretary KC Venugopal, party's Delhi chief Devender Yadav and party leader Pawan Khera. pic.twitter.com/jDck78d4ND
— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024
Before joining politics, Rajendra Pal Gautam used to practice law. After joining the Aam Aadmi Party, he was elected MLA from the Seemapuri constituency in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections after winning by a margin of 48,885 votes.
In October 2020, in a case of conversion in Ghaziabad, he stated that this was not a religious conversion, but a homecoming. This was a case of people of the Valmiki community in Ghaziabad adopting Buddhism. All those people who had adopted Buddhism had met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence earlier.
