The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday withdrew the candidature of Mahendra Singh from the North-West Delhi lok Sabha constituency for his alleged involvement in criminal cases. Party sources said former Delhi Minister Rakhi Birla could be fielded from the seat instead.
However, Singh claimed he is withdrawing from the lok Sabha elections on Tuesday due to ‘health issues’. On the other hand, party officials said that it had received several complaints which indicated that he had a ‘tainted’ image. “Many have reported to us that Singh has a few pending cases against him. We conveyed the same to him after which he now has withdrawn his candidature,” said a party official.
With the party dropping Singh, speculations are now rife as to who will replace him. Although a final call on this will be taken by the party’s political affairs committee, the party is not ruling out fielding Rakhi Birla from same reserved seat of North West Delhi.
“We need a person representing the Valmiki community for this seat. There is very less time and if we do not get a credible face then Rakhi Birla is an option as she already has a good base in the area,” informed the official. Sources also said that the party may ask Birla’s cousin, Jamna Devi, to contest from the seat as she is said to be a strong contender as well. Apart form Singh, the party also withdrew the candidature of Khalid Parvez, a social entrepreneur who had got the party’s ticket to fight from Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad seat.
Meanwhile, in yet another exit from the party, singer Jaspinder Narula on Tuesday resigned from the AAP. Narula had joined the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP in February. last week, the AAP’s National Executive member Ashok Agarwal had quit the party, saying it has become ‘directionless’ and functions like a private limited company. Recently, Savita Bhatti, wife of the late actor Jaspal Bhatti, returned the lS ticket from Chandigarh to the party after being disappointed with the functioning of the local party unit.