AAP workers pause life to volunteer in Goa

Panaji: To provide a groundswell and boost momentum for the party ahead of the scheduled public rally by national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday kicked off a bike rally led byBollywood actor Gul Panag.
Continuing the strategy adopted in Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi and Punjab, AAP has begun to quietly bring in volunteers to mobilize the masses and campaign for the party.Over 200 volunteers from across the country including Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have put their lives on hold to work for AAP in Goa. Professionals, students, former public servants and small business owners have poured into Goa braving the blistering heat and obvious discomfiture for the last two months.
"Most of the work in the party is done by volunteers who also have full-time jobs. A lot of people have come...batches of 20-30 volunteers come in rotation. They stay for 10-15 days here where they help out in various roles," AAP Goa media cell in-charge Rupesh Shinkre said.
When Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party orchestrated a massive upset and garnered support in Delhi, part of the success was attributed to the volunteers who hit the pause button in their life. As the party trains its sights on Goa, these volunteers have swung back into action.
One of them is Sanchit Sawhney, a restaurateur from Karnataka who is camping in Goa to oversee day-to-day responsibilities across the state. AAP has targeted five talukas in Goa and is going door to door campaigning, holding corner meetings and collecting funds. Sawhney's day begins at 8.30 am with a conference for the entire AAP state team at the Porvorim war room. "My family doesn't like this," Sawhney said.
ISRO nuclear fuel physicist Pranil Chaudhary is another such volunteer who contributes his time to help AAP in Goa.
The volunteers are spread across the age group of 20-50 years with a lot of them on the younger side. "Many of the volunteers from my team have just finished their exams or are mid-way. A few have returned home to answer their papers," said secretary of the Maharashtra state executive Abha Muley, who is in Goa.
Every day, AAP gets at least 150 missed calls from potential volunteers in Goa. A dedicated team of volunteers returns each call and compiles the data to disseminate it to constituency heads for follow up.
The party has setup a data centre at Porvorim which is managed by a team of three, again full time volunteers. Forty-two-year-old Chennai-based tech entrepreneur V Damodaran has also made Goa his temporary home. Tasked with coordinating efforts in Salcete, Damodaran has left behind his family and his business to spread the AAP wave.
Most of these volunteers have given up the luxury of their homes to stay at unfurnished apartments and dormitories across the state that local supporters have offered. "We have temporary accommodation in a hall, a non-AC hall. We don't look for personal comfort," former Haryana government officer J N Mathur said.