AAP appoints office bearers for Lok Sabha polls amid alliance tussle

This comes days after a row over statements by local Congress leaders that they were asked to prepare to contest on all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday appointed a Vidhansabha Adhyaksh and Vidhansabha Sangathan Mantris (in charge for assembly constituencies) in 63 of the 70 assembly seats as the party fine-tunes its preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is one of the partners of INDIA, a grouping of key opposition parties that aim to challenge PM Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 general elections. (Hindustan Times)

The appointments come days after a row erupted over statements by some local leaders of the Congress that they were asked to prepare to contest on all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. The AAP and the Congress are members of the opposition alliance, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, and there is speculation that they field common candidates for the seats in Delhi. The top leadership of the Congress has said that a decision on seat-sharing with the AAP will only be taken after “holistic” negotiations.

AAP Delhi unit chief Gopal Rai said on Thursday described the exercise as a “routine restructuring”. He clarified that the appointments should not be seen as an indication that the party was preparing to contest all seven seats, adding that the new office bearers will work to strengthen the party in various assembly constituencies ahead of the general elections.

“The appointment of the officials at the assembly level is part of a routine restructuring of the party organisation. AAP has organisational units in all the 70 assembly constituencies of Delhi where the party regularly undertakes restructuring. AAP will contest the Lok Sabha elections according to the plans finalised by the INDIA alliance,” Rai said.

AAP is one of the partners of INDIA, a grouping of key opposition parties that aim to challenge PM Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 general elections.

AAP has 11 MPs (10 Rajya Sabha and 1 Lok Sabha), and is running majority governments in Delhi and Punjab.