AAP will not contest LS polls in state

Mumbai: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Monday said it had decided not to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maha-rashtra although it will fight the LS polls in four states i.e. Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa. AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon made the announcement.

Adding to AAP’s assessment, she said, “As of now, we are not contesting any seat in Maharashtra, but the party may take a view on a few seats if we feel it will help defeat the BJP.”

Mr Menon said the party wanted to save democracy from the “clutches” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, and so, they would devote all their strength to the seats where they were certain they could defeat them.

However, former AAP leader Mayank Gandhi said that the decision showed that the party was “dead” in state whi-ch has 48 Lok Sabha seats - the second highest number after Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 parliamentary constituencies. "Encouraging the worst kind of leadership at the behest of volunteers destroyed AAP’s ethos and soul. Only self-seeking people are left in the party now,” he claimed.

Notably, the party had drawn a blank in the state in the 2014 general elections. Dissident AAP leader Ravi Srivastava said that the party’s position in the state was quite “weak”, so it was a wise decision not to contest the Lok Sabha polls.