AAP Announces Rajya Sabha List, Sanjay Singh Named, While Kumar Vishwas is Snubbed

File Picture Courtesy : Times Now

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come out with the list of three candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. The candidates are senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, Narayan Das Gupta and Sushil Gupta. The names were announced by Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. While Singh has been associated with the party since its inception, Sushil Gupta is a Delhi-based businessman and N D Gupta a chartered accountant.

“Sushil Gupta has made big contributions in the education and health sectors in Delhi and Haryana. He provides free education to 15,000 children. “Narayan Das Gupta is the former president of the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountant of India),” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters.

Meanwhile , a peeved Kumar Vishwas has hit back at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after his name was not included in the list of three Rajya Sabha candidates declared by AAP. I was punished for speaking the truth. I accept my martyrdom,” Vishwas told reporters. Vishwas was speaking following Aam Aadmi Party’s announcement of the three names for the Rajya Sabha seat.

Vishwas, who in the past had had a not-so-harmonious relationship with the senior leadership of the party, requested Kejriwal to not subject him to any further anguish.

The rift between Vishwas and party leadership deepened when in November last year when his name did not found mention among the list of speakers at the high-level party meet. Vishwas, who fought and lost to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, has been upset with the leadership for some time now.

A section of AAP close to Vishwas believed the rift had been caused by a “coterie” around Kejriwal who, they claimed, was against Vishwas being made the in charge of the Rajasthan unit of the party. The Rajya Sabha seat nomination was one of the several bone of contentions, Vishwas believes he was overlooked by the top brass.