After Punjab win, AAP eyes Himachal, Gujarat, Haryana

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 21

Buoyed by its Punjab landslide win, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday overhauled its organisation in nine states appointing IIT Delhi associate professor Sandeep Pathak party in-charge of election-bound Gujarat and co-in-charge of Punjab where he replaced Raghav Chadha.

A clear chain of AAP command stands installed in HP, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana, which go to polls starting this year until 2024, as also in Assam, Kerala and Punjab.

Jarnail Singh, AAP MLA from Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, has been retained as Punjab chief, while Pathak, widely hailed as the party’s chief poll strategist in the state, has been appointed co-chief.

Pathak and Chadha are set to enter Rajya Sabha from Punjab as a reward for their labour, with Kejriwal also tasking Pathak with the role of Gujarat in-charge for AAP. AAP’s Matiala Delhi legislator Gulab Singh will be the election in-charge in PM Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat where elections are due later this year along with Himachal Pradesh.

Ahead of a roadshow in Mandi, the AAP today named Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain poll in-charge and senior leader Durgesh Pathak as the AAP chief for Himachal. Durgesh Pathak will have the assistance of three co-incharges, including Amritsar Mayor Karamjit Rintu.

Saurabh Bhardwaj, AAP’s Greater Kailash legislator in Delhi, has been entrusted the responsibility of Haryana elections, while Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta has formally been named AAP in-charge in the state along with party’s joint secretary Mahendra Choudhary as co-in-charge.

Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai will be AAP election in-charge in Chhattisgarh, where party’s MLA from Delhi’s Burari Sanjeev Jha will be the state in-charge.

Dwarka MLA (Delhi) Vinay Mishra has been appointed to handle elections in Rajasthan and AAP founder member Somnath Bharti will lead the election plan in Telangana.

The Kejriwal-led outfit is seeking to replace the Congress as the principal alternative to the ruling BJP in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and other states that have traditionally witnessed direct BJP-Congress fights.

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