The Aam Aadmi Party has announced the second list of its candidates for the upcoming polls. However it has kept alive the mystery of whether Arvind Kejriwal will contest in the Lok Sabha elections.
After naming its top leaders like Yogendra Yadav and Kumar Viswas in the first list, it was being anticipated that the second list would announce the candidature of the likes of Prashant Bhushan, Sanjay Singh and Arvind Kejriwal himself.
Representational image. Shruti Dhapola/Firspost
According to sources in the party, the political affairs committee of the Aam Aadmi Party had been meeting regularly to decide and finalise the names for its second list. The list, though does not name many of the heavyweights in the party, covers a few very important seats.
Writer Rajmohan Gandhi, who joined AAP only a week ago, has been fielded from the East Delhi constituency. The incumbent MP from East Delhi is Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit. Sandpit Dikshit has been in the crosshairs of the Aam Aadmi Party for sometime now. His name had figured whenever the AAP had attacked Sheila Deikshit for her alleged involvement in corruption cases. The East Delhi constituency is also one of the Delhi seats where AAP looks very promising, given its results in the assembly election. Among the 10 assembly seats that come under the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, the Aam Aadmi Party has won seven of them.
According to observers, Rajnohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, a first time contestant, has a great chance of winning. A source in the Congress party reveals that it has already conceded the East Delhi seat. "Sandeep Dikshit is now cheering up his men asking them to be prepared for the 2019 election," the source said. "There is a possibility that after the election Dikshit will be sent to UP to head the UP Pradesh Congress," he added.
Another strong candidate that AAP is going to put up against a Congress heavyweight is Naveen Jaihind. The candidate from Rohtak will take on one of Rahul Gandhi's closest aides, Deepender Singh Hooda. Jaihind, who has been working closely with Arvind Kejriwal during his days in the Anna Movement, is one of the key forces behind the Haryana unit of the Aam Aadmi Party.
"Naveen has been a student leader, who has furiously taken on all the political parties, he is unmatchable if a candidate from Rohtak has to be decided," says Yogendra Yadav, a top member of the Aam Aadmi party.
The second list, other than these two prominent faces, features a number of social activists, especially from the rural constituencies of Maharashtra. It also features candidates from Beed, Aurangabad, Jalna, Thane and Solapur in Maharashtra.
According to AAP, it has has managed to gather a sizable support base in this belt of Maharashtra. "In these areas, Anna Hazare has a strong support base. Even though he is not with AAP anymore, the party should gain here as our common agenda has always been anti corruption," said a member of AAP's election coordination committee.
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