Gurdaspur bypoll: Co-president’s absence from poll campaign causes bitterness in AAP
The party's organisational re-vamp in May had seen Arora being appointed the co-convenor as he was heading the traders cell of the party and it was felt by the senior leadership that he was the right candidate to be a Hindu face of the party.
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A senior AAP leader said that Arora’s absence has greatly disheartened the cadres and that some Punjab leaders of the party have complained to Arvind Kejriwal on Arora’s continued absence from the election campaign. (Representational Image)
Deep resentment has surfaced in Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) leadership in Punjab as well as the party cadres due to the continued absence of the state co-president, Aman Arora, from the election campaign in Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency. Appointed as the co-president of the state unit in May this year along with Bhagwant Mann as the state president, Arora has been away on a private visit to USA and Canada and has not been present to campaign in Gurdaspur constituency. Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat has a heavy presence of voters from the Hindu community and one of the reasons for elevating Arora as the state co-president was that the party wanted to project a Hindu face.
A senior AAP leader said that Arora’s absence has greatly disheartened the cadres and that some Punjab leaders of the party have complained to National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Arora’s continued absence from the election campaign. “Arora has been addressing meetings of AAP workers in Canada where he is on a private visit instead of immediately coming back to Punjab when the by-poll for Gurdaspur was announced. There has also not been a contribution of single paisa for the party poll fund from his meetings with NRIs in North America. There is widespread resentment in the party because of his non-participation in the campaign of the party candidate Maj Gen Suiresh Khajuria (retd),” said a AAP leader.
The party’s organisational re-vamp in May had seen Arora being appointed the co-convenor as he was heading the traders cell of the party and it was felt by the senior leadership that he was the right candidate to be a Hindu face of the party. However, AAP has been unable to get any returns from his appointment in this election even as there are several assembly constituencies in Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat where there are substantial number of Hindu voters. “We could have used Arora’s services in areas like Sujanpur, Bhoa, Pathankot, Dinanagar, Gurdaspur city and Batala urban were he could have represented the party well,” an AAP leader said.
Top add to the woes of AAP in the by-election several top party functionaries who were appointed by Arora after he was given the charge of revamping the party set-up in Punjab, have either switched camps or have made themselves scarce. Among them are the Majha zone in-charge Kanwalpreet Singh Kaki who has been suspended for anti-party activities and state level general secretary, Lakhbir Singh who has joined Congress. “Raman Bhalla, the district president of Pathankot, who was also appointed by Arora, is just not to be found to take part in the election campaign. The rank and file is very angry over this and it has created a lot of heartburn,” said a senior leader.
AAP is facing an uphill struggle in Gurdaspur with the bulk of work on the ground level being undertaken by workers who have come from other parts of Punjab, particularly the Malwa zone. There has been a near complete absence of party cadre from the Majha zone. The bulk of campaigning is being done by the state president, Bhagwant Mann and the Leader of Opposition, Sukhpal Khaira who are addressing several meetings a day.
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