AAP decides to stay out of LS elections in Maharashtra
(Sourced from PTI)
The Aam Aadmi Party said that "as of now" it has decided not to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. However, AAP will fight Lok Sabha polls in four states i.e, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Goa. The party said it will devote all its strength to defeat PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to save democracy. Here's what AAP is planning.
"We're not contesting any seat in Maharashtra, but the party may take a view on a few seats if we feel it'll help defeat BJP," AAP's national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said. The party wants to save democracy from the "clutches" of PM Modi and Shah. "We will devote all our strength on the seats where we're certain we can defeat them," Menon said.
However, former AAP leader Mayank Gandhi said the decision shows that AAP is "dead" in Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest number after Uttar Pradesh which has 80 parliamentary constituencies. "Encouraging the worst kind of leadership at the behest of volunteers destroyed AAP's ethos and soul. Only self-seeking people are left in the party now," he claimed.
Gandhi said if the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, which rules the Delhi Assembly, contests in Maharashtra, it may not even get a few thousand votes and become a "laughing stock". Notably, AAP had drawn a blank in the state in the 2014 general elections. Dissident AAP leader Ravi Srivastava, who was one of its founder members, said the party's position in Maharashtra is quite "weak".
It was a wise decision not to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra as AAP's position in the state was quite weak already, said Srivastava. He further said that the AAP fared very badly in the recent Assembly polls in Hindi heartland states. It couldn't garner more than the NOTA (none of the above option for voters) votes polled.
Hitting out at AAP, Srivastava said, "The party has miserably failed to expand its base outside Delhi and even its MPs and MLAs are quitting. So, it's a wise decision." Since the last two years, AAP has suffered a setback in Maharashtra after its prominent leaders like Mayank Gandhi and Anjali Damania left the party. Its state executive committee was also disbanded sometime back.
