“‘No ifs and buts, only work’, this sums up the working style of Manish Sisodia and the ante has been raised after the exit of the seven MPs from AAP," said a senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party.
All eyes are on AAP’s mega meeting with party observers and MLAs at a private university in Jalandhar on Wednesday. The first organisational meeting of AAP after the exit of seven MPs, party leaders said the Wednesday meet, to be addressed by Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia and AAP president Aman Arora, is expected to be a morale booster.
Party leaders said the meeting will focus on organisational restructuring, strengthening of party machinery, motivation of cadres and a review of various grassroots development programmes.
Following the departure of Sandeep Pathak, Raghav Chadha and five other MPs to the BJP, Sisodia's approach has been marked by stricter and more hands-on monitoring of Punjab's development modules, with little tolerance for under-performance. "There is no room for 'ifs and buts' anymore," a party functionary said. The meeting is also aimed to gauge the mood within the cadres after the unceremonious exit of the MPs.
An auditorium with a capacity of 2,000 seats has been readied at a Jalandhar university’s campus for the mega meet and 1,200 leaders and workers are expected to attend the meeting.
This is the second meeting of AAP at the same university within a fortnight. The last one, dubbed a high-stakes “voluntary meeting" presided over by the CM and Manish Sisodia on April 15, too, had involved an administrative audit.
A senior party leader said, “Most chairmen of various bodies and organisational office-bearers under AAP were appointed by Sandeep Pathak. The high command is closely observing the activities of all leaders. Ever since Sisodia took up the party Punjab affairs charge, there was a significant shift in the working of modules which is being further galvanised, especially in wake of recent exits. We hold marathon meetings – one in the morning and another at 7 pm. Various wings like the Nasha Mukti Morcha Wing, Education Wing, etc. are the brain child of Sisodia. Wing in-charges and observers directly work with DCs and administrative members and there are instructions to immediately address the grievances of people. Unlike his predecessor Pathak’s relativey easy going style, Sisodia doesn’t hold back from pulling up those not delivering."
Observers said with 117 constituencies in the state and 3 to 5 observers from each of the constituencies, all these observers from across state shall be present at the meeting.
Meet to include fun and games
The meeting will see some fun and games and activities to lighten up the mood.
The meeting will begin at 10 am and a first inaugural session will be followed by physical and mental exercises, including meditative, breathing game sessions, etc.
While Manish Sisodia and Punjab AAP president Aman Arora will preside over the meet at the university, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and state CM Bhagwant Mann will join via video-conference. The entire proceedings of the day are expected to continue until 5 pm in the evening.
Besides, a huge poster “Volunteer Milni" has also been set up at the 2,000-seat auditorium of the CT Group of Institutions in Jalandhar.
A party leader said, “There will be sessions of ‘Tug of War’ and ‘Passing the Ring’. It is for the first time that an event of such importance under the Punjab affairs in-charge will witness such activities."