If you are an unsuccessful ticket aspirant of the Aam Aadmi Party, then expect an invitation for a special “Thank you” tea party. Finding hard to cope with the post ticket announcement trauma of its workers, the AAP is contemplating calling all unsuccessful ticket aspirants over tea to explain to them the party position.
This, several AAP leaders argue, will be prevent more resignations, dissent and protests by party workers over selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi.
AAP candidate from North-East Delhi Anand Kumar has already invited all the aspirants for the seat for a courtesy party on Friday. The proposal came on a day that saw a protest by over 60 AAP workers outside the party office against the decision to field Prof. Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University from North-East Delhi.
Disgruntled workers termed him an “outsider”, claiming that Prof. Kumar does not belong to the constituency. The ticket should have gone to party leaders Gopal Rai or Shazia Ilmi instead, they demanded.
The AAP has seen numerous protests and even resignations by some of its members due to denial of tickets. Just a few days ago, its founder member and national executive member Ashok Agrawal quit the AAP accusing it of being run like a “private limited company'” with an elite group of individuals taking over.
The extent of dissent and grievance at the ticket distribution can be understood by the fact that Ms. Ilmi, who was seen as the most likely candidate from New Delhi or South Delhi parliamentary seats, was allegedly unhappy at being denied a ticket from Delhi.
The candidature of almost all of its Lok Sabha contestants, including that of Ashutosh, Prof. Kumar, Rajmohan Gandhi and Ashish Khetan, has been opposed by the workers on the grounds that they are “outsiders”.
Several senior AAP leaders and also candidates are of the view that the party should ideally and out of courtesy communicate to its workers who did not get the tickets.
“Thousands of workers applied for party tickets. They are precious and valued asset of the party. If they were not given tickets, the party should ideally respect their association with it, call them and talk to them,” said an AAP leader.
“Going by the present trend, it is quite disappointing to see that the AAP has just been parachuting people from outside while expecting us to work. You cannot impose someone from another city and expect people to vote for them,” said a disgruntled party worker.
