The Aam Aadmi Party activists are unhappy with the party’s decision to field Anjali Damania convenor of Maharashtra state unit of AAP to contest election from Nagpur. They alleged that since Damania belongs to Mumbai how she can contest election from Nagpur. Later, AAP party member and RTI activist Mohan Kormore turned rebel and formed the Nagpur Aam Aadmi Party (NAAP).
Rupa Kulkarni another party worker and aspirant for Lok Sabha election too is not pleased with Anjali’s nomination from Nagpur. She alleged that the seat allocation procedure was not transparent as everything was pre-determined. The formation of Nagpur Aam Aadmi party has created insecurity among the AAP party leaders. They have alleged that BJP has played a vital role in the formation of NAAP to weaken the AAP party.
When AV contacted Anjali Damania and asked her to comment about the formation of Nagpur Aam Aadmi Party and the allegation made against her she replied, “NAAP party was formed with the assistance of BJP for tarnishing our party’s image. Nitin Gadkari has adopted this tactics as he has become insecure about the growth of AAP but he won’t succeed. The main objective of AAP is to eliminate a corrupt leader like Nitin Gadkari.”
“The person who formed NAAP was never a part of AAP. I was not keen to fight the Lok Sabha election. Arvind Kejriwal asked me to contest against a corrupt leader like Nitin Gadkari with an aim to defeat him. I will not disappoint Arvind.” Damania further added.
When AV asked Yogendra Yadav, a eminent Psephologist and AAP Executive Member about the criteria behind the selection of Anjali Damania he replied, “Anjali Damania is only one of the strong contender to pose a challenge to Nitin Gadkari. She was not planning to contest election from Nagpur but party forced her to fight against Nitin Gadkari. Our party’s objective is to defeat Nitin Gadkari. Nitin Gadkari had role in the formation of Nagpur Aam Aadmi Party.”
However, many party workers are disappointed with the functioning of AAP in other parts of the state too. Subhash Vare have been allotted a seat from Pune as D.S. Kulkarni, a social worker have raised objections against it. He said, “I am disillusioned with AAP which is making a farce of democratic system pertaining to candidate selection. There is lack of transparency in the candidate selection as nominees are pre-determined.”
