AAP's Poonam Azad joins Congress, terms it 'homecoming'

Poonam Jha Azad, wife of suspended BJP MP Kirti Jha Azad, on Tuesday quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the Congress. She had joined AAP five months ago.

Poonam, who took on former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from Gole Market in the 2003 assembly elections, termed her joining the Congress as “homecoming”.

“My father-in-law Bhagwat Jha Azad was former Congress Chief Minister (of Bihar). The Congress is like home to me, it’s like mother to me,” she said.

She also did not deny speculation that her husband Kirti Jha Azad may follow suit. “Only the time will tell, anything can happen, just wait,” she said at a press conference.

Poonam had joined the AAP in November last year. In December 2015, Kirti, a former India Test cricketer, was suspended by the BJP for “anti-party activities” after he complained of corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) at a time finance minister Arun Jaitley headed the body.

Welcoming her to the party, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said that her entry will strengthen it further.

Maken also recalled old days when he had entered the Delhi Assembly as a first-time MLA along with Kirti in 1993.

Two other AAP leaders, including Rajiv Mishra and Sarita Kambojia, also joined the Congress on the occasion.

Mishra represented the AAP in TV debates and had been appointed as co-incharge of the party’s Maharashtra affairs.

Kambojia was a district-level office bearer of New Delhi unit of the AAP, Maken said.