Key AAP Posts For 3 Top Leaders Who Lost Delhi Elections

Former state minister Saurabh Bhardwaj will head the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Delhi unit, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party announced on Friday as it aims to rejig key party posts after a crushing defeat in the state elections. Mr Bhardwaj, who replaces Gopal Rai, is among the three top leaders being given organisation responsibilities after losing in the recent elections - alongside Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain. 

Mr Bhardwaj, a three-time MLA from the posh Greater Kailash constituency, served as the Health Minister of Delhi for two years. He lost in the February elections. 

The party has also appointed Maharaj Malik as the state president of Jammu and Kashmir.

Besides, the AAP has also appointed in-charges in four states.

Senior leaders Gopal Rai and Durgesh Pathak have been made the Gujarat in-charge and co in-charge respectively. Pankaj Gupta will be the AAP in-charge of Goa.

Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister and AAP face for its education model, has been appointed as its Punjab in-charge, and Satendra Jain the co-in-charge.

Punjab is currently the only state where AAP holds power, after losing Delhi in February.

Sandeep Pathak, a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, has been made the state in-charge of Chhattisgarh.

The new appointments follow the AAP's defeat to the BJP in the February elections held in Delhi. In the elections touted by Arvind Kejriwal as a "good vs evil" contest, the BJP had won 48 seats in the 70-member seat, while AAP could manage only 22.