No organisation in place, state AAP fears Gujarat fate

The debacle in the Gujarat assembly elections in which all the 29 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates lost their deposits has the party leaders in Rajasthan worried. They are worried over the delay in the process of organization buildup in Rajasthan and say a similar fate awaits AAP here if the party does not get its act together.

The assembly elections are likely to be held in December 2018.

“The Gujarat results notwithstanding, our main concern is that we are lagging behind in preparation for the 2018 Assembly elections in terms of building our organization in Rajasthan, and with only a year to go for the polls the time is running out. Kumar Vishwas not devoting time to the party’s Rajasthan unit is a matter of concern, and we have raised this issue,” AAP leader and party’s Rajasthan spokesperson Devendra Shastri told HT.

Kumar Vishwas is AAP state in-charge for Rajasthan.

The party would be holding a meeting soon in which discussions will also be held on whether to take part in the upcoming by-elections to Lok Sabha seats in Alwar and Ajmer and assembly seat in Mandalgarh.

“The problem with AAP is infighting among the senior leaders in Delhi. Unless the party gets its act together it is awaiting a similar fate as that of Gujarat in the next year’s Rajasthan elections,” political analyst Rajiv Gupta told HT.

However, an AAP Rajasthan leader who did not wish to be named said, “Our main intention in Gujarat was to defeat the BJP and Arvind Kejriwal had already made that intention known publically.”

The Gujarat debacle for AAP comes after its equally dismal performance in Goa Assembly elections where 38 of its 39 candidates had their deposits forfeited. The party’s performance in Punjab was nothing to write home about either.

The senior members of party unit are miffed with Kumar Vishwas for not devoting time and resources to the party. Kumar has visited the state only four times since he was entrusted with the job of overseeing the party affairs in the state. The state unit of the party is also facing a severe fund crunch.

Kumar Vishwas did not respond to calls and text messages.

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