Former leader of the Opposition in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) Chinnam Gandhi on Sunday left Congress and joined Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Joining AAP in the presence of its Delhi MLA Alka Lamba, Gandhi alleged “acute corruption” in the VMC governed by BJP and the previous Congress-led UPA regime at the Centre.

Gandhi, who hails from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, had contested the 2012 Gujarat Assembly elections from the Manjalpur constituency as a Congress candidate and lost to BJP’s Yogesh Patel. In 2104, he joined Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and shifted base to Andhra Pradesh, where he contested district panchayat elections, but lost.

Subsequently, he again shifted base to Vadodara and joined Congress amid opposition from local party leaders and workers.

Gandhi told The Indian Express, “When I came back to Vadodara, local Congress leaders were not happy and they met the Gujarat Congress president demanding my suspension, though the president denied. But then I voluntarily took the decision to end my association with the Congress party.”

“Both Congress and BJP have joined hands in Vadodara to do corruption… To help the aam adami and the poor in the city, I have joined the AAP,” he said.

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