Rebellion in AAP over Lok Sabha tickets from UP

The first list of Lok Sabha nominees released by the Aam Admi Party has triggered a rebellion in the party in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad constituency. Ticket seekers are threatening either to contest as rebels or even moving the courts for pressing charges of cheating against the AAP leaders.

AAP has nominated Khalid Parvez as its LS candidate from Moradabad. Many prominent AAP leaders openly slammed the party leadership for ignoring their claims and nominating someone, who they claimed, was an ‘outsider’ and not an ‘aam aadmi’ (common man).

“AAP had promised to field an ordinary person. But the ticket has been given to an affluent person,” alleged Anwar Hussain, a ticket seeker.

He also said Parvez had not fought for the issues concerning the common people in the region.

Another ticket seeker Mohammed Amil claimed that he had been assured of the ticket and was asked to work in the constituency. “I have been cheated. I shall file a case of cheating against the party leaders,” Amil said.

Another aspirant Hanif Mohammed accused the AAP leaders of distributing tickets on the basis of ‘donations’. “AAP has become a corrupt party. It is selling its tickets,” Mohammed said.

Many AAP leaders who had embarked upon a jhadu yatra from Moradabad to Lucknow cancelled it midway after learning about the nomination of Parvez. They also termed the interviews to select candidates a ‘farce’.

The party had recently conducted interviews of over a thousand ticket aspirants from UP. The leaders said the party had received around 1,200 applications in all for 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

It was not clear if the party will field its nominees on all the seats or will concentrate only on the important ones.

AAP sources said the applicants included a large number of social activists and retired bureaucrats. Many of the applicants had joined the party recently. AAP leaders also said they were looking for strong candidates against senior leaders of the Congress, BJP and the Samajwadi Party. 

Riding high on its spectacular debut performance in the Delhi Assembly elections held recently, AAP hopes to do well in the state in the Lok Sabha polls also.The AAP leaders exuded confidence that they could spring a few surprises in the elections.