‘Bright minds’ at work as AAP readies war room

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

If political leaders think that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab is a bunch of inexperienced youngsters, their perception is delusional.

AAP has built a core team comprising political sharpshooters and crack commandos. While sharpshooters focus on political targeting, crack commandos help make political attack at the appropriate time. The team does its homework well and provides inputs to flag issues and strike against political opponents.

“We are not bothered about what our opponents say or think about us. Our job is to connect with people, listen to their problems, discuss issues and prepare policy draft to deal with what people share with us,” said former IAS officer RR Bhardwaj, convener of the intellectual cell of AAP in Punjab.

Bright Punjabi youngsters, who are either studying in renowned universities abroad or working in top companies, are thoughtfully engaged in preparing the policy documents for AAP in the state. On the basis of inputs provided by them, AAP is readying its manifesto and political agenda for the state.

One of the team members Raghu Mahajan is doing Ph.D in physics at Standford University, US. A topper in several competitive exams, including the IIT-JEE, Raghu did bachelor’s in physics and mathematics from MIT and master’s in mathematics from University of Cambridge.

“I belong to Punjab. I am scared of the fate that lies ahead of us if we do not forge political change in our state. The status quo simply cannot go on. We have had several Congress and Akali governments that have let us down time and again,” said Raghu in an e-mail sent to The Tribune on his political leanings.

“I want AAP to win Punjab. I am helping the state team to do research on all policy issues, including agriculture, industry, education, health, water, electricity, farm debt, drugs, corruption and nepotism. Based on all these inputs we will synthesise a robust policy document and manifesto for AAP,” Raghu said.

Another young member of the team is PHR Virendra. He has studied at Cambridge University and also in Dubai. He has been strategy consultant for top companies in the country, including Honda, Samsung, Panasonic, Maruti Udyog etc.

Team member Gurinder Singh Birring is MBA from University of Oxford. He is member of the core team doing research on Punjab issues. Then there is Arun Khanna. He is vice-president in a computer hardware firm in Philippines. “My job is do research and provide inputs on policy issues after studying the best practices available across the world. Then there is Saurabh Singh who is studying engineering.

Mohd Ovais, who is posted in a bank in Mumbai, Dinesh Chada, an RTI activist and many more youngsters work for hours every day to filter public views on various issues and to prepare notes.

Bhardwaj said there was one unit of the cell in each of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies. Each unit has a team of 20 well-qualified bright youngsters. “Our team is working in an organised manner. If our opponents say that we are just a crowd of crazy people, they are deceiving themselves,” said Bhardwaj.