Gopal Rai likely to be AAP's new Delhi convenor

NEW DELHI: A day after the AAP suffered a humiliating defeat in the MCD polls, the party is likely to appoint Labour Minister Gopal Rai as its new convener of the Delhi unit.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Delhi AAP MLAs called by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his official residence to review the civic bodies polls result.

However, the formal announcement will make after the meeting of party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC), AAP highest decision-making body.

Yesterday, AAP's Delhi convener Dilip Pandey had resigned from the post, taking the responsibility of the party's drubbing in the municipal polls.

"Labour Minister Gopal Rai has been appointed as the new convener of Delhi AAP. The formal decision will be announced after the PAC meeting," an AAP functionary said.

In the meeting, Kejriwal also asked the MLAs to go back to people and introspect the reasons behind the poll debacle.

The newly-elected 48 councillors also met the chief minister at his residence.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, AAP legislator Vishesh Ravi said, "In the meeting, it was decided that MLAs will go back to people and try to find out where has been a communication gap between the legislators and them".

Ravi, the MLA from Karol Bagh, said that in the meeting with Kejriwal, the EVM manipulation issue also came up for discussion.

"The AAP will soon decide its future course of action on this issue. At present, related evidence (pertaining to EVM manipulation) is being gathered," Ravi said.

Another AAP MLA Nitin Tyagi said that in the meeting, it was discussed that MLAs should introspect on what went wrong in the MCD elections.

Asked about who will be the next party's Delhi convener, Tyagi also said Rai may be appointed to the post.

"We need to work at the ground level in our constituencies and also introspect on what went wrong in MCD polls. I think there has been a communication gap between MLAs and people. We could not convince the people about the good work done by the Delhi government.

"I think people also forgot how the BJP in the MCD had failed for the last 10 years," Tyagi, the MLA from Laxmi Nagar, said.

Another AAP lawmaker, who did not wish to be named, said that Kejriwal has asked all party legislators to not be upset with the MCD poll results and go back to people.