New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday announced the names of senior party leader Sanjay Singh, Delhi-based businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta as their nominees for the Rajya Sabha.
The decision was taken after meetings of its MLAs, following which the final vote was cast by the party’s political affairs committee (PAC), the highest decision-making body of AAP.
“We were considering the names of 18 personalities from outside and from within the party. Finally, eight names were tabled for vote before the PAC. Eight of the nine members of the PAC agreed with all the three names, while one member agreed with two of the three names,” announced Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister.
The announcement of the nominations brought out the sarcastic best in AAP’s founder leader Kumar Vishwas, who had expressed his ambition to be one of the three nominees of the AAP.
“I was punished for speaking the truth. However, even a war has its rules…I accept my martyrdom,” Mr. Vishwas said after the announcement.
The elections for three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi are scheduled for January 16 as the term of the incumbent members, Dr. Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Parvez Hashmi, expires on January 27. The AAP in Delhi has 66 out of 70 seats in Delhi and is set to win all the three seats.
Making the announcement, Mr. Sisodia said that Mr. Singh has been nominated considering his association with the AAP and his work at the grassroot level. In case of Narain Dass Gupta, his work in the field of economics and government policies were taken into consideration, while for Sushil Gupta, his work in health and education, especially for sponsoring the education of 15,000 underprivileged children in Delhi and Haryana, were the criteria.
Sushil Gupta, a Delhi-based businessman, is the owner of the Ganga group of institutes and hospitals, which runs the chain of Ganga International Schools and Maharaja Agrasain Hospitals.
He was a former member of the Congress party and contested the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections from Moti Nagar constituency. He was also the chairperson of the Delhi Congress Traders’ Wing till October last year.
Former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said that he was “utterly disappointed” by the party’s choice. “I used to say, whatever his other faults Arvind Kejriwal cannot be bought. Defended him against Kapil Mishra’s allegations. Now I don’t know what to say. Speechless, ashamed and numb,” Mr. Yadav tweeted.
