The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a setback in Surat city of Gujarat as six of its corporators in the local civic body joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a party functionary said on Saturday. These corporators joined the saffron party late Friday night in the presence of Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi. In the February 2021 Surat Municipal Corporation elections, the AAP had put up an impressive show and emerged as the opposition party by winning 27 seats in the 120-member civic body. The BJP had won 93 seats, while the Congress had failed to open its account.
Five AAP corporators had joined the BJP in February 2022, but one of them had returned to the AAP fold. Now, with six more corporators joining the ruling party, the AAP's strength has come down to 17.