NEW DELHI: Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh resigned as the party's Punjab in-charge, over its drubbing in the state Assembly polls in February. Singh announced the news on micro-blogging website Twitter, saying, “I have submitted my resignation as the party in-charge of Punjab to AAP's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal. Durgesh (Pathak) has also submitted his resignation as co-incharge.”
The resignation came a day after AAP's Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey quit over the party's defeat in the recently held Delhi municipal polls. It, however, remains unclear whether both the resignations have been accepted by Kejriwal or not. The sad outcome of the polls also saw a demand from AAP workers in Punjab to fix responsibility for the party's defeat.
Meanwhile, amid speculations of the churning of its Punjab unit, state convenor Gurpreet Singh Waraich (Ghuggi) underlined the need for the outfit's high command not to lose contact with its local volunteers and leadership at this point. Waraich said the threat of rival parties poaching on AAP MLAs was real. “The way the party has created distance from local volunteers and leadership, chances of people contemplating to part ways can increase. It is a juncture for course correction, and we cannot afford to have this sort of carelessness. I would definitely raise this matter at the forthcoming meeting of the political affairs committee of the party.”
Meanwhile, speculations were rife that at least two AAP leaders were in contact with the Congress. However, they denied any such move at this point, adding that they were hopeful that the party leadership would do introspection and make necessary changes. "Since the party is in low spirits, there are all sorts of rumours doing the rounds. There are also unconfirmed reports of a dozen MLAs being brought together to explore the possibility of launching a new outfit," said an AAP leader requesting anonymity.
