The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has appointed its senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak national general secretary (organisation) after it recently became eligible for national party status.
Pathak was the party's election in-charge for Punjab as well as for the recently concluded Gujarat assembly polls.
The AAP wrested Punjab from the Congress in polls held in March. Though the Arvind Kejriwal-headed AAP won only five of the 182 seats in the Gujarat polls, it got a nearly 13 per cent vote share. About the party's performance in Gujarat, Kejriwal had said it has not won many seats but the number of votes the party got helped it become eligible for national party status.
In a tweet, the AAP said, "The party hereby appoints Sandeep Pathak as the Rashtriya Sangathan Mahamantri (National General Secretary, Organisation). He will also be a Permanent Invitee to the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the AAP. Congratulations on your new role!" Sources in the AAP said the appointment had been made with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Pathak, who originally hails from Mungeli in Chhattisgarh, was an associate professor at IIT-Delhi.
Congratulating Pathak, AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "I congratulate Dr Sandeep Pathak and wish him good luck for his new responsibility. We have to build AAP sangthan in every nook and corner of the country." Reacting to his appointment, Pathak said, "The party has given me a huge responsibility, I assure everyone that I will put in my best to live up to the expectations. We aim to reach every citizen in every village and every mohalla with the positive politics of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal."
"This is a very big responsibility. The people who take forward the politics of a political party are its workers and volunteers. Right now you can go to any state we have or have not fought an election yet, but you will find lots of supporters who believe in the politics that Arvind Kejriwal and AAP are trying to propagate.
"All we need to do right now is to bring all people together and channel this energy. We need to get all those people who believe in our ideology to work for the people and then when the elections come, the results are bound to be in our favour," he added.
After winning five seats in Gujarat, the AAP has become eligible for national party status. Quoting provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, a former Election Commission official had said that a party needs state party status in four states to automatically become a national party.
The AAP is already a recognised state party in Delhi, Goa and Punjab. It is in power in Delhi and Punjab. In Gujarat, it bagged nearly 13 per cent vote share setting it on the course of attaining the status of a national party.
A party needs eight per cent of votes in a state to get state party status.