NEW DELHI: The new appointments by AAP are aimed at bolstering the party’s presence in Delhi and Punjab, and also reflect a conscious attempt by Arvind Kejriwal to keep the flock together by giving key roles to seniors like Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Saurabh Bharadwaj.
In a post on X, Kejriwal congratulated the party functionaries on being given new responsibilities. The appointments gain importance as AAP will be focusing on strengthening the organisation in Punjab, Gujarat and Goa, where assembly elections will be held in 2027.
In a first, the party appointed a state president in J&K, putting its only MLA in the state, Mehraj Malik, in the post. Malik won from Doda constituency in the 2024 assembly polls.
The rejig followed a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee, where it was decided to make former Delhi minister and long-time Delhi convener Gopal Rai the new in-charge of Gujarat, where AAP has four MLAs. The party hopes to capitalise on Rai’s grassroots experience and his mobilisation abilities to expand its footprint ahead of the 2027 assembly polls. Delhi MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak will assist Rai as co-incharge in Gujarat. Rai is one of the 22 AAP MLAs in Delhi assembly.
Sandeep Pathak, AAP’s national general secretary (organisation), will be in-charge of Chhattisgarh. National secretary Pankaj Gupta will be in-charge of Goa. The party has appointed Ankush Narang, Abhash Chandela and Deepak Singhla as co in-charges in the state. Announcing the names, Sandeep Pathak said PAC meeting focused on ” party’s expansion, organisational structure and key strategic issues”.
After his appointment, Sisodia said, “There is a unique affection among the people of Punjab for Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann (Punjab CM). AAP will undoubtedly win the Ludhiana West byelection.”
Bharadwaj said those who remain with the party after a loss are “pure gold” and AAP will emerge stronger with those who stand with it today.