Arjun Rathva, the Gujarat unit vice president of the Aam Aadmi Party, resigned from his role and the party on Tuesday, stating that local leaders were not being consulted in decision-making, news agency PTI reported. He stated that he has not made any plans to join another political party. Rathva, a tribal leader from the Chhotaudepur district, resigned in a letter to Gujarat AAP president Isudan Gadhvi and state in-charge Sandip Pathak. Rathva resigned as Gujarat AAP vice president, as a member of the party's National Council, and as a member of the party's primary membership in the letter.
Rathva, a Chhotaudepur-based social worker, joined Arvind Kejriwal's AAP in 2013.
He ran unsuccessfully as the AAP candidate for the Gujarat assembly constituency of Chhotaudepur in 2017 and 2022. He again ran in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Chhotaudepur parliamentary seat, but lost.
Rathva told PTI that he chose to leave AAP because its national leadership does not consult with local leaders like him while making decisions on the party's issues in Gujarat.
"Since local leaders are not involved in the decision-making process, the AAP suffered loss in the 2022 state assembly elections. Though we were in a position to win at least 50 seats (out of the total 182 in Gujarat) in the last year's assembly polls, we could not perform well due to lack of planning at the ground level and lack of involvement of local leaders" Rathva was quoted by PTI in its report.
The AAP made its maiden appearance in the Gujarat assembly elections in 2022, gaining five seats and finishing third behind the incumbent BJP and the opposition Congress.
"Despite our repeated requests, the party leadership has not conducted any evaluation of its defeat in Gujarat so far. How are we supposed to lead people at the local level in such a situation? Since the party leadership was not ready to listen, I have resigned with a heavy heart," Rathva said.