AAP conspiring with Congress to cut BJP votes: former party candidate

New Delhi: While you might not have expected it, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi seem to be facing a similar predicament. Following the much publicized internal tussle in the BJP, now an AAP supporter has questioned the candidate selection procedure of his party. Surendra Sharma, AAP’s candidate from the Shahdra constituency has said that the party’s candidate selection procedure is flawed at the core.

Fifty-eight-year-old Sharma, an advocate in Karkardooma district court, was asked to withdraw his candidature by the party last week. AAP has claimed that they decided against his candidature as Sharma had not revealed that FIRs had been filed against him. AAP sources said that the move was made to maintain the ‘clean’ image of the party.

Sharma, on the other hand, denied having an FIR against him. “There was family dispute over a Rs 300 crore worth property. An FIR was filed but quashed immediately. AAP knows about it,” he informs.

A disgruntled Surendra Sharma is now smelling a conspiracy behind AAP’s move. He has even gone ahead and suggested that Arvind Kejriwal’s party is hand-in-glove with the Congress. “AAP ka deal lagta hai Congress ke saath, ek do seat se matlab hai aur kuch nahi (I feel, they have a deal with Congress to cut BJP’s votes, they are only concerned about a few seats),” he says

AAP, however, says revoking tickets of tainted candidates like Sharma sends out a strong message. “We have a zero tolerance policy. We are fighting against corruption. It will be very ironic if our candidates do not represent AAP’s ideology,” says party spokesperson Manish Sisodia.

Sisodia adds, “We want to make it clear that if questions are raised about the any of our candidates, we will make sure that a probe is conducted and the truth is made known. If a candidate is found guilty, his nomination will stand cancelled.”

Sharma said that AAP has tried to taint his reputation, despite him having done extensive work to solve the water problems faced by people in his constituency. He adds that he had undergone thorough background check before he was nominated and was given a clean chit by the party. He was given a ticket only after extensive investigations into his background, voting by active volunteers, a meeting with Kejriwal and an endorsement by the Political Affairs Committee (PAC).

“I had not gone to the AAP party and sought membership or candidature. They came to me after they got to know about my work in Shahdra. A PIL I had filed in the Delhi High Court had helped solving major water crisis faced by not only in my constituency but entire Delhi. The AAP coordinators invited me to their meetings and then Kejriwal told me that I am a perfect candidate for the party,” said Sharma.

Sharma alleges the party heads—Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan—are intent on defaming him. He adds that Sisodia has leaked information to selected media houses. “I have never been summoned by any courts. My image is clean. On the contrary all the party heads have been summoned in various cases. They have no case against me… I doubt if they are at all interested in winning any seats except the ones where AAP’s prominent leaders are contesting. It is a larger conspiracy against major political party,” he says, adding that he plans to sue AAP for defaming him.

Aam Aadmi party, however, claims they have the right to  eliminate any candidate not fit to represent the AAP. “Our first and foremost criteria is clean image. We make sure there are no pending cases or FIRs gainst our candidate, we do a background check on them,” says Sisodia.