Former AAP leader Umesh Verma joins BJP

Former chief of AAP's JJ Cell Umesh Verma today joined the BJP along with his supporters, in a boost to the saffron party's focus on unauthorised colonies and slums in the city under the leadership of its Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari.
Tiwari, who celebrated his birthday today, welcomed Verma and his supporters who took the primary membership of the BJP and vowed to work for the party in April's municipal polls.
Verma, the former head of the Jhuggi Jhopdi (JJ) cell of AAP, had left Arvind Kejriwal's party in November last.
"I had joined the AAP taking Arvind Kejriwal's promises for the poor on the face value, but I realised that despite being in power for nearly 18 months, the AAP government had no resolve to stand up for the slum-dwellers," he said while joining the BJP.

Verma joined the saffron party along with 1,678 of his supporters all of whom took the primary membership of the BJP, said a party spokesperson
Tiwari said the BJP was committed to providing housing facilities in slums with proper water and electricity supply and promised to approach the Centre for funds and assistance through the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
Several senior party leaders, including Union ministers Harshvardhan and Vijay Goel, VK Malhotra, Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyaya, greeted Tiwari on his birthday.
A traders' body, the World Vaishya Foundation, felicitated Tiwari at a function organised at Janpath and handed over contributory cheques for the BJP to him.