Former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi (right) meets BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday.
New Delhi: Former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi Friday joined the BJP “for the rest of my life,” but said she is not keen on contesting the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.
“After being defeated in last assembly elections and subsequently in general elections, I don’t want to fight this election. However, I will follow the party’s instructions, but I want my party to respect my wish,” said Ilmi, a long-time associate of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
She admitted she had had differences with the BJP and the Congress in the past.
“But in the last six months I have realised that the prime minister is doing a good job. The way he invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s name for the Swacch Bharat (Clean India) campaign is very impressive,” she said.
Ilmi had contested — and narrowly lost — the December 2013 assembly elections on AAP ticket.
Meanwhile, on the issue of alleged conversions carried out recently by some groups, Ilmi said she does not support “forced” conversions and that the BJP has nothing to do with the matter.
Ilmi joined the BJP a day after former Team Anna member and ex-Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi entered the ranks of the saffron outfit with the BJP saying that she will contest the February 7 assembly polls.
