With Arvind Kejriwal in ED’s custody, top AAP leaders’ responsibilities likely to grow

PTI

New Delhi, March 22

The role and responsibilities of top AAP leaders, including its national organisation secretary Sandeep Pathak, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, are likely to grow within the party after its supremo Arvind Kejriwal's arrest weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The prospect of the Delhi chief minister's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, who has so far maintained a distance from politics, assuming a new role is also being discussed.

In a post on X, Sunita Kejriwal said on Friday that her husband always stood with the people of Delhi and his arrest was a betrayal with them.

"Modiji, in the arrogance of power, got your three-time chief minister arrested. Trying to crush everyone. This is a betrayal with the people of Delhi. Your chief minister always stood with you. Inside or outside, his life is dedicated to the country. The public is supreme and they know everything. Jai Hind," the former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer said.

Mann said he would attend the next meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

"I have been to these meetings along with Kejriwal in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Patna," the Punjab chief minister said while talking to reporters.

Apart from Mann, Atishi, Bharadwaj and Pathak were also closely associated with the deliberations between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress over seat-sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The AAP and Congress, both INDIA bloc constituents, have arrived at a seat-sharing agreement in Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana.

Asked about his new responsibilities and role in the party after the Delhi chief minister's arrest, Mann said, "Kejriwal is my elder brother. I am a loyal soldier of the party. In the coming days, I will go for campaigning in Gujarat, Kurukshetra or wherever the party asks me to go."

He said it is an illusion of the ruling BJP at the Centre that it will derail the AAP and prevent it from campaigning. The INDIA opposition bloc has stood strong and its members have spoken out against Kejriwal's arrest, Mann asserted.

"We will do campaigning with double, triple enthusiasm. We have a Political Affairs Committee (PAC). We will hold a meeting," he said.

The PAC is the highest-decision making body of the AAP. It takes the final call on important issues related to political matters.

However, there was no official word from the AAP regarding the existing situation and challenges it faces in the coming days with Kejriwal, the centrepiece of the party's brand of politics and governance, under the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) custody.

The ED arrested Kejriwal on Thursday in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.

Pathak told PTI that Kejriwal will run the government from jail.

"I do not think there will be any difficulty in running the government from jail. Even when the chief minister was outside, it was like they (the Centre) had imprisoned the entire governance in Delhi," he said.

Anyone who thinks that a government cannot be run from prison will be proven wrong, Pathak said, adding, "Being in jail does not debar Kejriwal from running the government."      

Sources, however, said it is still too early as the AAP leadership is busy dealing with the situation arising out of Kejriwal's arrest.

"It is a possibility that Kejriwal will be absent for a long period due to the money-laundering case in which he has been arrested. So the AAP will be required to take a call and pick able leaders to run the affairs of the Delhi government and discharge the political responsibilities in view of the Lok Sabha polls," one of the sources said.

The chief minister's former deputy, Manish Sisodia, was arrested in the same case by the ED and he has been in prison for more than a year now. AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, too, is in jail in the case for the last several months. 

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