Ahmedabad: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), after the dissolution of its Gujarat unit, on Sunday announced new organisational structure in the state ahead of the Assembly polls. TV journalist and senior leader Isudan Gadhvi was appointed as its national joint general secretary and Rajkot-based real estate giant and former Congress MLA Indranil Rajguru as the national general secretary.
It was also announced that 850 office bearers have been appointed for the Gujarat unit of the AAP. This is the first list of Gujarat office bearers to be appointed, party state in-charge Dr Sandeep Pathak said at a press conference in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
The Gujarat unit, with the exception of party state president Gopal Italia, was recently dissolved, calling the move a new tactic ahead of the Assembly elections in December.
AAP Gujarat's founding president Kishorbhai Desai has been appointed as the state president of its frontal organisation, Manoj Sorathiya as the state general secretary, former Congress leader Kailash Gadhvi as state treasurer, and Jagmal Vala, farmer activist Sagar Rabari, Rinaben Rawal and Arjun Rathva as state vice-presidents, according to the Indian Express.
Dr Sandeep Pathak AAP's Gujarat in-charge, at a press conference in Ahmedabad on Sunday afternoon claimed that their state unit had been disbanded to encompass new office bearers. "We had taken out a parivartan yatra in Gujarat where we covered all 182 Assembly constituencies. The love and affection of people which we received during this journey was unprecedented and we also got an idea of the expectations people had from us," Pathak said.
"Parallelly, we also held 'Jan Samvad' programmes in over 10,000 villages where we held discussions with the people. We realised that the people are ready for a change and they are looking for an alternative. Over 30,000 people have joined us as active members and lakhs have taken our membership during this yatra. As our family expanded, thus arose the need for an expansion of the organisation. Today, we have released the first list of office-bearers," he added during the press conference.
The part also announced the appointment of Jitendra Upadhyay as its education cell president, Bipinbhai Gameti as Birsa Munda Morcha president, Bhemabhai Chaudhary president of its cooperative wing, Maheshbhai Kolsavala as Jai Bheem Morcha president, Rajubhai Karpada (kisan wing president), Pranav Thakkar (legal wing), Arif Ansari (sports wing), Shivlal Barasia (trade wing), Gauri Desai (women's wing), Pravin Ram (youth wing) and Kishorbhai Rupareliya (doctors' wing).
Terming the day "historic for AAP workers in Gujarat", the party's state unit chief Gopal Italia said, "This is a historic day for AAP workers in Gujarat. We know that it is only the AAP that can defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat. We dissolved the existing organisational structure to pave way for a new structure, keeping the upcoming election in mind and our firm resolve to win it. We have reshuffled the structure to ensure that more people get an opportunity to serve people through our party. I congratulate the newly appointed office bearers."