Announcing the changes AAP’s national general secretary (organization) Sandeep Pathak has said that meeting of the political affairs committee held at Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on Friday, March 21, focused on “party’s expansion, organizational structure and key strategic issues.

AAP’s political affairs committee has appointed an important Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj as the new party chief in the National Capital Territory Delhi. Saurabh Bharadwaj will be replacing Gopal Rai as the party’s Delhi convenor.

The change in Delhi has been made after AAP’s defeat in Delhi elections held in February 2025. Gopal Rai on the other hand has been given responsibility for Gujarat. Announcing the organizational changes, Sandeep Pathak said that Gopal Rai has been entrusted with the responsibility of Gujarat, where the party endeavours to broaden its presence.

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia has been appointed as Punjab party in-charge while Satyendra Jain will be co-in-charge. This shows the importance of Punjab where AAP has very high stakes because of its being the ruling political party. Sisodia and Jain will oversee organizational tasks for Punjab and ensure the effective implementation of AAP’s promises and key agenda.

Another AAP leader Pankaj Gupta has been given responsibility of Goa, Punjab, Gujarat, and Goa are the three states where Vidhan Sabha elections will be held in 2027. AAP is aiming at retaining its power in Punjab while it aspires to penetrate more into BJP’s citadel in Gujarat and Goa.

After loss of power in Delhi, AAP is ruling only one state Punjab, where it is in urgent need do showcase the “Punjab Model” of governance. As in Delhi, the party is trying to focus on healthcare and education in Punjab too. Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain’s experience in revamping healthcare and education in Delhi will help Bhagwant Singh Maan led AAP government in Punjab to strengthen healthcare and education.

AAP in Punjab has been facing a severe organization crisis in the state, where Congress has claimed that about 36 MLAs of AAP are in touch with them, to switch over at appropriate time. Then there are other crises too such as the recent one when hundreds of agitating farmers have been arrested and their protest sites at Shambhu and Khanauri border has been cleared. Farmers are angry with AAP leadership and they have been agitating against AAP too, as well as against the PM Modi led BJP government at the Centre. The other problems for AAP in relation to law and order, public order, and Sikh extremism. It is in this backdrop the Punjab AAP is undergoing an organizational crisis – both vertically and horizontally. The reshuffle AAP’s central organization shows that AAP is preparing itself for greater organisational restructuring in Punjab.

As for Gujarat, Gopal Rai has been appointed convenor, and Durgesh Pathak will help him to oversee AAP’s Gujarat unit and make necessary changes in organization after assessing the ground situation there. In the 2022 Gujarat elections AAP was able to penetrate into the BJP’s citadel and won 5 seats with 12.92 per cent of votes.

Regarding Goa, the new in-charge Pankaj Gupta will be given helping hand by Ankush Narang, Abhash Chandela and Deepak Singhla as co-incharge. Though AAP has only two seats in the state and 6.77 per cent of votes shares, the party hopes to considerably widen its support base and share of seats.

Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir are two other states where AAP wants to focus for widening its support base. Sandeep Pathak has been made political in-charge for Chhattisgarh, while Mehraj Malik has been appointed new chief of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit. It should be noted that Malik is the lone AAP MLA who has won the 2024 state assembly election from Doda constituency.

The Political Affairs Committee of AAP has made a subtle move for Delhi by sending senior Delhi leaders as in-charge of other states, which will give new Convenor of Delhi unit Saurabh Bharadwaj a relatively free hand in managing the political affairs in Delhi. The meeting also deliberated on the financial assistance and free LPG cylinders to women in Delhi, and decided to do relentless ground work to ensure that women get these under the present BJP rule.

New Delhi convenor has shown confidence that he would be able to strengthen AAP in Delhi since, it is easier to strengthen a party after losing an election. “In Delhi elections, AAP's vote share was 43.5 per cent, while BJP's was 45.5 per cent. This shows that nearly half of Delhi had voted for us despite all the use of police and administration by the BJP against us. We will keep strengthening the party.”

The reshuffle indicates that AAP Supremo Arvind Kejriwal will now be playing a greater role in national politics, while other party leaders will be looking after the party’s political interests in states. Kejriwal will have some sort of only supervisory role for state politics. One of the objective of the reshuffle was also to keep the AAP’s flock together by giving the leaders key roles. (IPA Service)