oppn parties RS Nominations: Who Will Leave AAP Now?

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
RS Nominations: Who Will Leave AAP Now?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2018-01-04 12:16:39

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
Ideally, the Rajya Sabha candidates from Aam Aadmi Party should have been Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh. The final list reads: Kejriwal loyalist Sanjay Singh, chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta and billionaire ‘social activist’ Sushil Gupta. This proves one thing and gives a strong indication of another. It proves the AAP is fast becoming the proprietary firm of Arvind Kejriwal and it gives a strong indication that some more people are going to leave the party soon.

Of the three proposed nominations, Sushil Gupta’s rankles most and goes against all the principles on which the AAP was formed. Gupta was with the Congress previously and joined AAP just one month ago. Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken has alleged that Gupta resigned from the Congress as he was promised a RS nomination by AAP. Despite his charitable institutions, Gupta is a political lightweight and is not expected to make any meaningful contribution in the upper house.

Kejriwal has filled the party with yes-men and anyone holding a view contrary to his is sidelined in a manner that leaves the person with no other option but to either become a chamcha or leave the party. His bid to invite eminent outside personalities like former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan was just a ruse to keep disgruntled RS aspirants from the party at bay. He thought he would walk away with the accolades for inducting distinguished persons in the RS regardless of party affiliations if those eminent personalities had accepted. But does not that prove that despite AAP being touted as the party of “intellectuals”, no one from within the party is distinguished enough?

The way Kejriwal is going, his dreams of branching out in other states will die fast. Even in Delhi he will be left with defectors. All idealists and intellectuals will think twice before joining a party where only one man’s writ runs. If Kejriwal thinks that only he and Sisodia can run the show with assorted yes-men, he has another think coming. He should heed the advice of well-wishers and mend his ways to make the party truly democratic.