AAP’s rural reach in trouble for giving tickets to ‘outsiders’

AAP ‘rebel’ Hari Shankar Sharma said he would contest as an independent from the area and claimed that “half the original AAP volunteers” are backing him.

“The volunteers’ opinion was not taken into account and the ticket was sold to a former BJP man… Where are the values Kejriwal stood for? I will file my nomination on January 19,” Sharma said.

However, Shokeen denied that his joining had created dissatisfaction within the party. “I have enough support in the area. The defectors, including Sharma, had contested against me in the past. I won from Nihal Vihar which contributes to the majority of the electorate of the Assembly seat,” Shokeen said.

The candidate from the Kirari seat, Rituraj Jha, is also believed to have faced opposition from party cadre for being an “outsider”. In the 2013 elections, the AAP had lost the seat by the biggest margin. However, Jha was credited with increasing the vote share by over 40,000 in the Lok Sabha elections and was eventually declared the candidate.

However, protesting against his candidature, party volunteers created a parallel Facebook page ‘Aap Ki Kirari’ and put up pictures of protest as well as things Kejriwal had said earlier.

Jha, however, said he has the “full support” of his volunteers.

“There may be some volunteers who are unhappy. But I moved to Kirari two-three months ago so people know me. I turned the party’s vote share around in the Lok Sabha elections. I went on a five-day fast against the gambling hubs and they were shut down,” Jha told Newsline.

Meanwhile, another group of old AAP volunteers, who have come together under “Shoshit Evam Pirit Volunteers Samaroh”, have been “encouraging” old AAP volunteers to contest as independents.

“We are working on 15-20 seats, trying to bring disillusioned volunteers. These people quit their jobs and livelihoods for the party, but it did not respect them,” Satish Goyal, a psychologist and a member, said.