Raaj Kumar Anand clarifies: Exit from AAP was not pressured

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) A day after announcing his resignation as a minister in the Delhi government and quitting the AAP, Raaj Kumar Anand asserted on Thursday that he did not take the decision under any pressure but was unable to tolerate "injustice".

The Patel Nagar MLA also kept people guessing about his next move by saying that "politics is a game of possibilities and no one knows what lies ahead in the future", even as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have claimed that he might join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Anand is still "technically" a minister although he has resigned, officials said.

"He has claimed to have sent his resignation to the Chief Minister's Office but the chief minister is in judicial custody. There is no possibility in the near future that his resignation letter will reach the chief minister for his approval," a senior Delhi government officer said on Thursday.

The resignation letter of a minister, approved by the chief minister, has to be forwarded to the lieutenant governor for further approval. Sources said Anand's resignation letter has not been received.

The office of the Delhi Assembly speaker has also said it has not received Anand's letter of resignation as an MLA.

Anand said the allegation that he quit the AAP under pressure is wrong and also refuted the claim of AAP leaders that he had received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"I never received any notice from the ED," he told PTI Videos and added that the agency officials raided his residence in November last year to trace the money trail in the "liquor scam", but nothing was found and the matter was closed.

Anand said he resigned because he was "not allowed" to discharge his duties as a minister and the work of his community was not being done.

Alleging that Dalit leaders are not not given important posts either in the AAP or in government agencies, such as the agricultural produce marketing committees, he said, "I was not able to tolerate this injustice." Anand, who held the portfolios of social welfare and SCs and STs among other portfolios in the Delhi government, asserted that neither is he retiring from politics nor going anywhere else.

Asked if he plans to join any other party in the future, Anand said, "Nobody knows what lies in the future, but politics is a game of possibilities." Describing himself as a soldier of B R Ambedkar, he asserted, "I will continue to follow his slogan -- pay back to the society." Incidentally, the government bungalow occupied by Anand in the Civil Lines area is gaining notoriety as he is the third Dalit minister of the AAP government to resign.

Earlier, Sandeep Kumar and Rajendra Pal Gautam -- who occupied the bungalow number 4 in Civil Lines -- resigned after courting controversies. PTI