Discarded AAP candidate says will spoil party’s poll prospects

AMRITSAR: AAP’s former official nominee for Amritsar Central constituency Rajinder Kumar, who was dropped within 24 hours of his name being declared, has picked up cudgels against the party. He is now threatening to make a dent in AAP’s prospects not only in Amritsar Central but also in Amritsar West assembly constituency.
Accusing AAP of adopting a faulty survey to decide the names of its assembly candidates Rajinder called its leaders ‘misguided’.Fuming at being replaced, Rajinder also known as Captain, told TOI on Saturday, “It was AAP that approached me after conducting a survey , I didn’t go to them seeking party ticket, but now I am sure their leadership could easily be misguided by anyone.”
Rajinder had contested the 2002 assembly elections in 2002 the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket from Amritsar West constituency and secured over 21,000 votes. He said his political opponents had sent letters about his past court cases to AAP’s leadership. “They lied to top brass about me. The fact is that I had been acquitted by the court in all the cases. I had informed about it in written to AAP’s top leaders when they had approached me,” he said.
On Saturday, Rajinder held meeting with his supporters from the two seats. “I am getting a very positive response from my supporters who are insisting that I should contest as an independent candidate and teach AAP a lesson,” he said.
The former Congress leader also rued the fact that after he was replaced with Darbari Lal, his efforts of getting in touch with AAP’s top brass to get an appointment to tell his side of the story were going in vain.