NEW DELHI: Sensing Assembly elections at the end of this year, Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday handed the party poll reins to senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.
In a meeting of the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), chaired by Kejriwal, a consensus was reached on creating two new posts.
While Singh, one of the founder members of the party, was made the election in-charge, Pankaj Gupta, who has also been with AAP since its inception, was made the campaign director. This is the third time after 2013 and 2015 that the party has bet big on Singh.
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“I thank the party for trusting me with this responsibility. We’ll highlight the issues plaguing Delhi and thwart the divisive agendas of the party,” Singh said.
A source privy to the meeting said the party anticipates the Delhi Assembly polls to be held alongside that of Jharkhand’s in December. It was also decided that the party, which was founded on the ideal of clean politics and governance, will highlight the party’s big policy decisions and ‘untainted’ rule over the last four-and-a-half years as it goes door to door for votes.
Known as the party’s ‘expansion man’ in north India, Singh has been actively engaged in the extending the party’s footprints in places where it has little or no presence.
“Good organizational skills and a vast experience of ground politics, more than anyone we can think of, makes him ideally suited for the job. If the Assembly elections come early, as we anticipate, it means we have very little time to campaign.
“Hence, the decision making in the ranks has to be quick and speedy implementation of decisions taken at party level, by the respective MLAs, has to be at the core of our campaign,” a senior AAP MLA said.