Three journalists, no Arvind Kejriwal in AAP’s Delhi list

Known for his ‘expose’ on the Gujarat riots and the role of the Narendra Modi government in the incidents, Ashish Khetan has been fielded as the AAP candidate from New Delhi constituency against Congress’s Ajay Maken. The announcement comes at a time when the party has stepped up its attack on Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

While the party leadership continues its attack on a section of the media, alleging a corporate-political-media nexus, Khetan is the third journalist to be contesting Lok Sabha polls from Delhi on an AAP ticket. The other two are former television journalist Ashutosh, who will be contesting against Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, and Jarnail Singh, a former journalist who is known for raising the issue of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and throwing a shoe at Union Minister P Chidambaram.

The AAP candidate for Bijwasan constituency in Delhi Assembly elections was the second Lok Sabha candidate to be declared on Monday. Having served in the Army, Devendra Sehrawat left the job and started working for farmers’ issues such as land acquisition in Bijwasan. An IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, Sehrawat lost the Bijwasan seat by a margin of 2,414 votes to BJP’s Sat Prakash Rana.

Talking about the criteria for selecting Delhi candidates, Durgesh Pathak, an AAP member, who was on the selection committee, said, “Allegiance to the party’s ideals and the work done by them at the local level were important grounds for deciding the candidates. Their understanding of swaraj and the Jan Lokpal bill too were taken into consideration.”

Although the AAP’s performance lacked lustre in rural areas of Delhi, Sehrawat believes that the situation has changed considerably.

“Those residing in rural areas were not confident that the AAP would form the government. But having experienced the 49-day AAP government, residents are happy with the party. After the election results, we have been constantly working towards building the party’s presence in these areas. I am hopeful that the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls will be in our favour,” Sehrawat said.
Sehrawat will contest against sitting Congress MP Ramesh Kumar from South Delhi.