Saurabh Bharadwaj appointed Delhi AAP chief, Sisodia to head Punjab unit

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced a major organisational revamp on Friday, appointing former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj as the president of its Delhi unit and senior leader Manish Sisodia as the in-charge for Punjab. The decision comes a little over a month after the party suffered a defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections.

Bharadwaj takes over from Gopal Rai, while Sisodia steps into his new role in Punjab, the only state where AAP currently holds power. The appointments were finalised during a meeting of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) at party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s residence. Kejriwal later took to X to congratulate the leaders on their new roles.

Following the PAC meeting, AAP General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak stated that Gopal Rai would now oversee the party’s affairs in Gujarat, a state where AAP aims to expand. Pathak himself has been appointed in charge of Chhattisgarh, while Pankaj Gupta will lead the party’s Goa unit. Punjab, Gujarat, and Goa are set to hold Assembly elections in two years.

In addition to these changes, Mehraj Malik has been appointed as the head of AAP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit. The party has also named co-in-charges for key states: Satyendar Jain for Punjab, Durgesh Pathak for Gujarat, and Ankush Narang, Abhash Chandela, and Deepak Singhla for Goa.

Bharadwaj noted that AAP secured around 43.5 per cent of votes in the Delhi elections, trailing the BJP by just two percentage points. “Even in these circumstances, half of Delhi voted for AAP,” he said. “We have a responsibility toward them as well as those who voted for BJP.”

Sisodia expressed gratitude to the party leadership for his new role in Punjab. “My endeavor will be to work with AAP leaders, workers, and the government under @BhagwantMann ji to meet the expectations of the people and honor their trust,” he wrote on X. He added that the progress made in Punjab under AAP’s governance is now evident and that the time has come to accelerate this transformation.