NEW DELHI: Weeks after defeat in the Assembly elections, AAP has restructured the party, with former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj being appointed as the Delhi state convenor, replacing Gopal Rai, and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia being named the Punjab unit in-charge.
An announcement in this regard was made following a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party on Friday. Former environment minister Gopal Rai will head Gujarat unit and Pankaj Gupta will lead Goa affairs.
AAP had lost Delhi elections after 11 years in the recent Assembly polls. The BJP had ended its 27 years of absence by winning 48 seats while AAP got 22 seats. Senior AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia, Bharadwaj, Rakhi Bidlan, Satyendar Jain, Somnath Bharti, lost the elections.
Kejriwal, in a post on ‘X’, congratulated party leaders on being given new responsibilities.
After the PAC meet, AAP general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said Rai would expand party’s base in Gujarat. Pathak, Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, has been named in-charge of Chhattisgarh unit. Assembly elections are due in Punjab, Gujarat and Goa in the next two years.
Mehraj Malik was named the new chief of the party’s J&K unit. The party also appointed co-in-charges for state units, including Jain for Punjab, Pathak for Gujarat, and Ankush Narang, Abhash Chandela, and Deepak Singhla for Goa.
Bharadwaj said that the party got 43.5% votes, just 2% less than that of BJP in the recent Assembly polls. “Half of Delhi voted for AAP. We have to take care of them as well as those who voted for BJP,” he said.
Sisodia said the affection of the people in Punjab would further propel the party’s prospect in the state.
“The results of the AAP government’s work in Punjab are visible. It’s time to give rocket speed to the change. There have been a lot of developments in Punjab after the party formed the government. The Bhagwant Mann government will continue to work for the welfare of the people,” he said.