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Rebellion is not the sole propriety of the legacy political parties. The menace has not spared the new born, and new look Aam Aadmi Party either.
It was evident when three activists of the AAP filed their nomination papers for the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency within a span of two days. All the three came to the office of the returning officer wearing the AAP brand white caps and submitted their papers. While Hemantkumar Panchal who has been declared as the party’s official candidate said he would be AAP candidate, two others — Sanjay Kothari and Shylendrakumar Patil — too mentioned in their papers that they were contesting as Independents.
It is expected that another AAP activist Channaveeragouda would also file his papers on Monday. Hemantkumar said that the local problems would be his election plank and expressed confidence that his party would sweep the polls and give surprising results.
Thus, the AAP activists proved that the party unit in the constituency is a divided house and there are over three groups. It was 38-year-old Shylendrakumar Patil who helped organise the AAP in the region in the initial stages and he was a strong aspirant for the Lok Sabha ticket. The party higher ups had promised him the ticket and he was making preparations to contest.
But after the visit of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to Bangalore, the name of P Y Hemantkumar (Panchal) cropped up and he was declared as the party’s candidate from Dharwad much to the shock and surprise of the party workers here.
They later came to know that Hemantkumar hailed from Belawatagi in Navalgund taluk and had been living outside state for several years and was now settled in Bangalore.
Shylendrakumar Chandrakant Patil hails from Bailhongal in Belgaum district and is a resident of Hubli. In his affidavit he has declared that he has Rs 10,000 cash in hand and a bank deposit of Rs 30,000 taking the total value of his assets to Rs 35,000. He is unmarried and holds a diploma in pharmacy. He is facing one criminal case filed by Hubli Suburban Police under sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 427 and 449 of IPC and the case is pending trial.
Hemantkumar is 47 year-old and has passed PUC. He is a resident of UAS layout in Bangalore and his name is in the voter’s list of Hebbal assembly constituency, Bangalore. Hemantkumar has declared that he has properties worth Rs 6.25 crore which include agricultural land, residential building and non-agricultural land (sites). Both Shylendra and Hemant do not have loans.
