Be honest, don’t ditch party, Kejri tells his councillors
AAP chief tells his workers to move on from poll drubbing, win over disenchanted volunteers and make efforts to rebuild their connection with people, stays mum on the ‘malfunctioning EVMs’ row
NEWDELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked newly-elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) municipal council lo rs on Thursday not to leave the party and cautioned them that the BJP might try to lure them.
His remarks follow the AAP’s decision to rejig its Delhi unit after the party’s drubbing in elections to the city’s three civic agencies.
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday directed his cabinet colleagues and party legislators to ‘move ahead’ from the municipal poll debacle and start working in a co-ordinated manner, as the party introspected its drubbing.
On Wednesday, the party leadership had blamed ‘tampered EVMs’ for their huge loss to the BJP in the civic polls.
However, sources said, when AAP’s legislature committee met at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on Thursday, the focal point of discussion was the ‘disconnect’ of party legislators with ministers and the party organisation, winning over disenchanted volunteers and making efforts towards rebuilding their connection with people.
“The chief minister directed the ministers to be accessible to the party legislators and work in close co-ordination with them. The ministers were also directed to be seen more on the ground,” a party legislator, who attended the meeting, said.
Sources said the legislators raised the issue of accessibility and lack of frequent consultations in organisational matters during the meeting. Party leaders said the issue of ticket distribution and AAP’s campaign strategy was also raised in the meeting, as there was a feeling that the party had failed to ‘drive home the message about the government’s achievements.’
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Karol Bagh legislator Visheash Ravi said the party leadership decided to let bygones be bygones and start working on the ground.
“The party arrived at a conclusion that all legislators will go back to people and try to gauge public opinion. It was important to seek public feedback about what went wrong ,” Ravi said. On the issue of EVM tampering, Ravi said the party will decide on its future course of action. .