Gurdaspur bypoll: Battling funds crunch, AAP to skip big rallies

Major General Suresh Khajuria is an old AAP volunteer and a local resident of Pathankot, which falls under the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency.

A CASH-STRAPPED Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to contest the Gurdaspur by-election by holding small meetings instead of taking out big rallies that entail huge expenditure. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, leader of the opposition, told The Indian Express, “We do not have funds to splurge, like Congress and BJP. Our priority will be to fan out in the constituency to register our presence with the voters.” He said office-bearers and MLAs of the party would be briefed at a meeting on September 24.

In the Assembly polls held earlier this year, AAP received considerable financial support from NRIs. “However, now the cash flow is less because the Gurdaspur bypoll is not really expected to be a winnable election,” said a senior leader.

AAP candidate from Gurdaspur, Major-General (Retd) Suresh Khajuria, said the focus of his campaign would be on a “heart to heart” talk with voters given the financial constraints of the party.

“We are a party with very limited resources and performing on a shoe-string budget. There are people, fighting these elections, who can afford to splurge and they can buy anything. But, I do not know how they will serve the people of this constituency if they need helicopters to travel,” he stated.