The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced on Wednesday that it would contest the Rajasthan Assembly elections that are likely to be held later this year.
At a press conference in New Delhi, AAP leader Ashutosh said the party’s political affairs committee (PAC) met two days ago to discuss Rajasthan polls. “The party decided to contest the Rajasthan Assembly elections with full strength.”
The PAC also decided to appoint Deepak Bajpai as Rajasthan in charge, replacing AAP founder-member Kumar Vishwas, who has had a thorny relationship with the leadership in the past year and has criticised the party over its Rajya Sabha picks earlier this year.
When asked about the decision to replace Mr. Vishwas, Mr. Ashutosh said: “Kumar Vishwas is a senior leader of the party. The responsibility of Rajasthan was with him. Due to some realities, he could not give as much time to it.”
When asked if Mr. Vishwas, a member of the PAC, attended its meeting, Mr. Ashutosh said he didn’t.
Mr. Bajpai had started working in Rajasthan, having moved to Jaipur about a month-and-a-half ago. He had visited all Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies and was meeting workers, said Mr. Ashutosh, adding that the process of identifying candidates was under way and some had been selected.
