Realtor D S Kulkarni lashes out at the party after being denied LS ticket, claims the selection procedure was mere eyewash as AAP had already shortlisted its candidates
Renowned realtor D S Kulkarni criticised the protocol followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) while selecting candidates for contesting upcoming Lok Sabha election on AAP ticket. He was addressing the mediapersons in the city yesterday.
Sour grapes? D S Kulkarni at the press conference in the city yesterday, where he compared AAP to other political parties that believed in closed-door meetings. Pic/Mohan Patil
Kulkarni attacked the party and accused AAP of following closed-door candidate selection methods, with an unknown high command influencing selections, just like other political parties.
His tirade against AAP comes a day after the party announced that Subhash Ware would be its candidate to contest polls from the city.
Kulkarni and former Indian hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay’s names were doing rounds as the front-runners to get AAP ticket after the party shunted former IAS officer Arun Bhatia.
Bhaita claimed his allegations against AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharati had cost him the ticket.
Alleging that the party had already chosen its candidates, Kulkarni claimed that the entire selection procedure was a gimmick to fool the others. He claimed that AAP did not even follow the Swaraj method, wherein party members would have had shortlisted candidate through voting.
Kulkarni, who had contested previous LS polls on a Bharatiya Samajwadi Party ticket, said that he was drawn to the AAP’s commitment for change and transparency, but claimed both the aspects were seen missing during the party’s selection procedure. aHe said the party had asked him to submit signature of 100 voters from his legislative assembly, supporting his candidature, and had asked the aspiring candidates to fill the forms with great details which even the election commission does not ask for. “After scrutinising applications, candidates were called for an interview. All this was a sham,” Kulkarni said. “I am going to write a letter to Arvind Kejriwal, expressing my displeasure over the selection procedure observed by
the AAP.”
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