AAP wears ‘I am Santosh’ caps for hurt party member

Even as Santosh Koli, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for Seemapuri assembly constituency, battles a critical injury after an accident 10 days ago, the party on Tuesday announced the launch of the ‘I am Santosh’ campaign.

Even as Santosh Koli, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for Seemapuri assembly constituency, battles a critical injury after an accident 10 days ago, the party on Tuesday announced the launch of the ‘I am Santosh’ campaign.

Starting Wednesday, as a first step of the campaign, AAP volunteers will try and raise the entire legal permissible amount of Rs 14 lakh needed for her to contest the elections.

Following an almost fatal road accident on June 30, Koli was initially admitted to a private hospital at Kaushambi, Ghaziabad, where she underwent a brain surgery. Later, she was shifted to a private hospital in Gurgaon. Here, she underwent a minor surgery for removal of a clot in the brain.

The party has already said they suspect foul play as she had been getting threats. “This will be a befitting reply to those who thought they can silence her/us,” the announcement for the ‘I am Santosh’ campaign read.

Announcing the campaign on its social networking page, AAP said it was aimed to own up responsibility for campaigning on behalf of Koli and ensure her victory in Seemapuri.

Asked if the party was emotionally encashing Koli’s accident to raise funds, Manish Sisodia, AAP spokesperson vehemently denied this and said it is not just for Seemapuri, but such campaigns will be carried out for all constituencies where it is hard to raise funds.

“We are going to raise money from respective constituencies for each candidate. In areas where it is not possible, such as Seemapuri, we will collect from outside constituencies as well. This campaign (I am Santosh) is an online campaign by two of our supporters,” he said.

Sisodia, however, couldn’t justify the name of the campaign, though he claimed it is planned for all constituencies.