AAP leader Durgesh Pathak will contest the Rajinder Nagar assembly by-election next month, party leader Sanjay Singh said on Saturday, daring Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta to join the fray and defeat the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's candidate.
Mr Singh announced Pathak's name at a press conference at the party headquarters here while claiming that Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta and other heavyweights of the saffron party have declined to contest from the Rajinder Nagar assembly seat fearing their "imminent defeat".
A "formal announcement" about Durgesh Pathak's candidature will be made by the party as well, the AAP MP later told reporters. Mr Pathak was present at the press conference.
"Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta and Tajinder Singh Bagga have run away from the election. Both of the BJP heavyweights who keep hurling abuses and making false accusations all the time have refused to contest from the Rajinder Nagar seat," Sanjay Singh said, referring to a report published in a section of the media.
Latching on to the media report, he said this "clearly shows" how scared the BJP "heavyweights" are of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal's governance model, his works and politics.
The BJP is "so terrified" that first it ran away from the civic elections and now its leaders are running away from assembly bypolls, he said.
"I challenge BJP state president Adesh Gupta to contest election from Rajinder Nagar seat. Our MCD in-charge and AAP leader Durgesh Pathak will be the candidate from there. You are the BJP state president, come and contest elections from there if you dare," Mr Singh said.
When asked if it was a formal announcement of the AAP's candidate by him, Sanjay Singh said, "What would you do when they (BJP leader) are terrified and running away since they heard about him (Pathak)...It's ok. There will be a formal announcement by the party also." Though the AAP is yet to formally announce Durgesh Pathak as its candidate for the Rajinder Nagar bypoll, his name has been doing the rounds for the past few days.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
