AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and others during a meeting to discuss the party’s election strategy in New Delhi on August 11, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI
Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will start a padyatra from August 14 and “spearhead” preparations for the Delhi Assembly election scheduled for next year, said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday.
The decision has come as the party’s top brass has been holding discussions for the past two days over the future role for Mr. Sisodia after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the corruption cases linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.
The meeting to decide the role for him was attended by senior AAP leaders, including Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Durgesh Pathak, Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Atishi.
“Tomorrow, there will be a meeting with all party MLAs and on Tuesday, Manish ji will meet all AAP councillors. On August 14, on he will start the padyatra to meet people of Delhi,” AAP general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak told reporters.
When asked whether Mr. Sisodia will be given any formal position in the party or in the government, Mr. Pathak said it will be decided in future by party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
“By now, people have understood that the BJP and [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi have only one agenda of destroying AAP. Despite all adverse conditions, the party is strong and growing. We will meet people and get their blessings,” Mr. Pathak added.
Mr. Bharadwaj too claimed that ever since Mr. Sisodia has returned home after spending 17 months in jail, the party cadre is brimming with confidence.
A senior leader told The Hindu that they are not “bothered” about Mr. Sisodia’s designation.
“He is the one who built the party from scratch with Arvind Kejriwal ji. So, a formal position in the government or the party is irrelevant,” the leader said.
‘Voters will reject AAP’
Reacting to it, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the next year’s Assembly poll will mark the end of Kejriwal’s “anarchic rule”.
“It’s strange that AAP leaders are expecting to win in Delhi even after voters rejected Kejriwal’s appeal to vote for AAP to save him from going to jail during the parliamentary poll,” he said.
