By PTI
NEW DELHI: Keeping up with its nationwide expansion plan, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday appointed new office-bearers to strengthen its base in several states, including those going to polls this year and in 2023.
Releasing a list of the new office bearers, the party said senior leaders with “proven electoral performances” have been appointed as election in-charges for the states the AAP is “looking to enter”.
The AAP has trusted its “experienced leaders” to drive its campaigns across the country, it added.
This comes days after the party took its first steps towards nationwide expansion and appointed new office-bearers for nine states.
According to the latest list released by the party, Delhi’s Timarpur MLA Dilip Pandey has been made election in-charge for Karnataka, which will go to polls next year.
To expand the party’s base in the BJP-ruled state, the party has appointed its leader Damodaran from Delhi as the ‘sangathan mantri (organisation secretary)’ for the Karnataka unit.
The AAP had contested in Karnataka for the first time in 2018, fielding candidates in 28 out of a total 124 assembly seats, but could not open its account.
Riding high on its stupendous victory in Punjab, the party has started early preparations for the assembly polls in the state, hoping to gain foothold in its second attempt.
The AAP has appointed its leader Dushyant Yadav from Delhi as its organisation secretary in Rajasthan to expand the party’s base in the Congress-ruled state with an eye on the assembly polls there next year.
The party had contested in 142 out of 200 seats in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly elections but could not win any of them.
With renewed vigour, the party is gearing up to join the fray once again.
Last week, the AAP’s Dwarka MLA Vinay Mishra, son of Congress leader and former MP Mahabal Mishra, was made the election in-charge for the party in Rajasthan.
The party has appointed Dinesh Pratap Singh, associated with it since its inception, as co-in charge of the AAP’s political affairs in Haryana and Prabhakar Gaur as organisation secretary, a week after the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta was named in-charge of the AAP’s political affairs in the state.
The AAP has increased its focus on expanding its footprints in BJP-ruled Haryana with an eye on the state assembly polls in 2024.
Several local leaders of the ruling BJP, Congress and other parties have joined the AAP since its landslide victory in Punjab, and the party hopes that it will be in a position to project itself as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress in the assembly polls.
Seeking to make inroads in Bihar, the AAP has assigned the task of building its organisation in the state to its leader Rahul Tanwar.
Ajesh Tadav, another party leader from Delhi, has been made the AAP’s election-in charge for the state.
Appointed as organisation secretary, AAP leader from Delhi Ajay Raj has been assigned the responsibility of expanding the base of the party in Kerala.
With immediate focus on the assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh this year, the party has appointed its leader from Delhi Deepak Chouhan as the organisation secretary for Gujarat.
This comes a week after the AAP’s poll strategist and newly elected Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak, a former IIT-Delhi faculty member, was appointed in-charge of the party’s political affairs in Gujarat.
Pathak, touted as the AAP’s ‘Chanakya’, has been working for the party from “behind the scenes” for many years, and he is credited for building the party’s cadre in Punjab and also ensuring its landslide victory in the state.
“Most of those appointed as the party’s election in-charges and organisation secretaries for various states have been associated with the AAP since its inception, and have made remarkable contributions in building the organisation while working for the party from behind the scenes,” a senior AAP leader told PTI.
Many of them have also worked with the party’s poll strategist, Pathak, he said.
“The party has given them responsibilities in states keeping in mind their dedication to the party’s mission and expertise in organisation building,” he added.
