AAP has too little time for Delhi polls, feels Shazia Ilmi

Bangalore, Aug 19: Former Aam Aadmi Party (

) leader

said in an interview to Rediff.com that the party had too little time to reinvent itself before the Delhi assembly polls. It will require a lot of honest introspection, perception management and organisational restructuring for the party to gain lost ground," she said in the interview. [

]

Ilmi, who fought on the AAP's ticket in both the Delhi assembly polls last December and the Lok Sabha election this year but lost in both, said the party still had a sizeable support in the lower strata of the society but conceded that the middle-class support had shifted to the BJP.

Ilmi said the AAP had committed a couple of blunders by first taking the Congress's support in forming the government in Delhi and then quitting power after 49 days in power. The government of Arvind Kejriwal resigned after failing to pass through its Janlokpal Bill. President's Rule was imposed on the state after the Kejriwal government quit power.

Ilmi praised PM Narendra Modi over his Independence Day address

Ilmi was also not convinced by the way in which the candidates were pre-decided for the Lok Sabha election while a major drive was underway for screening volunteers. She also revealed in the interview that Kejriwal had asked her the reason for speaking to the media and also suggested her to leave if she was unhappy with the party.

The former journalist also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his maiden Independence Day speech in which he addressed issues of gender and sanitation and creation of model villages by member of the Parliament and legislative assemblies.

Oneindia News