|
62. 10 prominent people who have
joined Kejriwal Aam Aadmi Party
Brajesh Kumar, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 10, 2014
First Published: 01:16
IST(10/1/2014) | Last Updated: 11:19 IST(10/1/2014)
The founder of budget airline
Air Deccan, Captain Gopinath joined the AAP on
January 3. Gopinath made his first foray into
politics in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, in which
he fought from Bangalore South against BJP’s Ananth
Kumar and lost. Said to be impressed by the AAP’s
anti-corruption stand, he has not ruled out
contesting the upcoming polls.
A bitter critic of Gujarat
chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi, danseuse, actor and social activist
Mallika Sarabhai joined the AAP this week. She
contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 as an
independent candidate from Gandhinagar against BJP
leader LK Advani and lost by a huge margin. Daughter
of scientist Vikram Sarabhai and classical dance
exponent Mrinalini Sarabhai, she has often been in
news for taking up issues related to the 2002
Gujarat riots.
Senior editor and well-known TV
personality Ashutosh left his job at IBN7 to join
the AAP. Ashutosh made his decision public on
Twitter. He wrote, “These are historic moments,
societal churning is on, everybody has to contribute
to make the change robust and beautiful. Eight years
back I changed my course, now there is another time,
another call of destiny, have to swim.”
The former chairperson and CEO
of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS, India), Meera Sanyal
contested in 2009 as an independent candidate from
Mumbai South and lost. She got associated with the
AAP during the Delhi assembly elections, in which
she campaigned for the party for New Delhi and
Greater Kailash seats. She has expressed her desire
to fight the upcoming general elections from Mumbai
South again.
Former NDTV and STAR TV CEO
Sameer Nair joined the AAP before the Delhi assembly
elections to help the party formulate communication
strategies. In a press release, Nair had said he had
joined the party to offer his expertise in whatever
way possible to bring a change in the society.
“... my friends are ready to contribute to
AAP’s communication work free of cost,” he had said.
After stepping down as a board
member of software behemoth Infosys in December last
year, Balakrishnan wanted to focus on creating a
successful private equity fund. However, the result
of the Delhi assembly elections, according to him,
was an eye-opener. “I genuinely want to be part of
such a change and revolution. I strongly believe
that the real impact of AAP will be felt in the 2014
parliamentary elections,” he wrote in his blog.
A former BJP MLA from Gujarat,
Kanubhai Kalsaria has been at the forefront of all
land and environment-related agitations in Gujarat.
He won the Mahuva assembly seat three times in a
row, but parted ways with the BJP in 2012 elections,
when he fought and lost the seat.
Former NSUI member Alka Lamba
broke her 10-year-long association with the Congress
to join the AAP in December last year. Lamba had
joined NSUI in 1994 and won the DUSU election for
the post of president in 1995.
She was appointed as the general secretary of
the All India Mahila Congress in 2002. One year
later, she unsuccessfully contested the Delhi
Assembly polls from Moti Nagar constituency against
BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana.
Senior Supreme Court advocate
HS Phoolka has been the face of legal battle for
justice to the victims of 1984 riots for years.
Although he has worked closely with Shiromani Akali
Dal-controlled Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee and Delhi Sikh Grudwara Management
Committee, he chose to join the AAP instead of the
Akali Dal.
The grandson of former Prime
Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and son of Congress
leader Anil Shastri left his job as the sales head
in Apple Inc to join the AAP. In a tweet after
joining the party, he said he would try and live up
to his grandfather’s name. “We all feel his vacuum
in these trying times,” he wrote on Twitter. He also
said he did not join his father’s party as he
thought he would not fit into the Congress. |