AAP councillors made to take loyalty pledge

Hit hard by the BJP in Delhi civic polls, the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday nuanced its reaction on its defeat.

The toning down of rhetoric on electronic voting machines (EVM) manipulation happened at a meeting on Thursday where leaders reviewed the civic polls results, discussed the effect of BJP’s Uttar Pradesh victory and Modi getting more traction than others in electoral battles. During his meeting with new councillors, Kejriwal made them take a pledge, “With God as my witness, I pledge never to leave this party or betray the movement.”

The move comes amid murmurs of dissent and possibility of second-rung leaders using this as an opportunity to take on senior leaders

The Delhi results — the byelection to Rajouri Garden Assembly seat and civic elections — have emboldened some of the leaders to air their opinion.

Bhagwant Mann, Lok Sabha MP from Punjab had earlier blamed the central leadership’s strategy for Punjab polls, which was echoed by Punjab Opposition leader P S Phoolka.

While Delhi in-charge Dilip Pandey announced his resignation taking responsibility for the poll debacle on Wednesday, Sanjay Singh, party’s Punjab in-charge, announced to step down on Thursday. There is no confirmation of the acceptance of his resignation.