AAP workers demand anti-corruption activist Damania’s return to party

Mumbai city news: Damania has been responsible for exposing irrigation scam as well as Maharashtra Sadan scam that saw Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal being put in jail.

A group of workers from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have recently started a campaign to get anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania back in the party.

A well-known face in Maharashtra, Anjali Damania quit the AAP in 2015 following allegations levelled against the party leadership. (HT file)

Damania has been responsible for exposing irrigation scam as well as Maharashtra Sadan scam that saw Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal being put in jail. A well-known face in Maharashtra, Damania quit the AAP in 2015 following allegations levelled against the party leadership.

On Saturday, 150 AAP volunteers reached her home in Santacruz requesting her to return to the party. “We want all good people to come back to the party and continue their fight against the corrupt,” said Abhishek Bhat, an AAP volunteer. The volunteers have asked Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to convince Damania to return. They have also started a twitter campaign to get her back.

Damania, who was a part of veteran activist Anna Hazare’s agitation India Against Corruption (IAC), was also the founding member of AAP in 2012. She led the Maharashtra unit exposing various scams during the tenure of Congress-NCP government in the state. She also fought the 2014 Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully against Union minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.

AAP lost all the 48 seats it contested in Maharashtra. AAP then did not contest the Assembly polls and in September 2014 Damania resigned from the post of party’s convenor in Maharashtra. In February 2015, following allegations of alleged horse trading against Kejriwal, Damania quit the outfit.

She tweeted “I quit. I have not come to AAP for this nonsense. I believed him. I backed Arvind for principles not Horse-trading.”

She became active again in the political circles when she started a campaign against the then revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who was forced to resign.

Damania said she has not taken any decision on rejoining AAP. “They gheroed me and asked me to return to the party. It is too early to react now,” said Damania.

The AAP has lost much of its steam. Top leaders like Medha Patkar have quit th eparty. Apart from the occasional exposes against political leaders, the Maharashtra unit seems to be going nowhere.