Rajmohan Gandhi joins AAP

Party sources say he is likely to contest from Delhi

Rajmohan Gandhi, the Mahatma’s grandson, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday. Party sources said he was likely to contest from Delhi.

Speaking to Business Standard, Rajmohan said speculation that AAP would field him against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was unfounded. He added he would consider contesting the Lok Sabha elections if the party asked him to.



Rajmohan said, “The Congress was an aam aadmi party, but has become a khaas aadmi party and I don’t agree with the BJP’s communal politics.” He added the AAP’s anti-corruption movement was a successor to the Mahatma Gandhi-led freedom movement.

Rajmohan, 78, an academic and a former journalist, was an important leader of the Janata Dal in the early 90s. He had unsuccessfully contested against former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi from Amethi in 1989. In 1991, he had lost to Arvind Trivedi from Sabarkantha. He was the Janata Dal’s campaign committee convener before parting ways over what he thought was a cynical implementation of the Mandal Commission report by the V P Singh government in 1990.

He is the son of Mahatma Gandhi’s  youngest son, Devdas. C Rajagopalachari, freedom fighter and the last governor-general of India, was his maternal grandfather.

Congress a private limited company, says Adarsh Shastri

Party sources said AAP's second list of candidates for the forthcoming general elections is also likely to include the name of Adarsh Shastri. Sources said Adarsh was keen to contest from Lucknow. Adarsh joined AAP after having quit a job at Apple. Adarsh told Business Standard that the Congress, a party where his father Anil Shastri is a senior leader, "has become a party of individualistic aspirations". He said the Congress has "lost track of its own legacy and history and is far removed from the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Shastriji. I would call it a private limited company," said Adarsh. Incidentally, Adarsh's father Anil had also quit his corporate sector job to successfully contest on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989 from Varanasi.

Adarsh said it was the genuine intent of AAP and its leadership that made him join the party. It doesn't worry Adarsh that his father or uncles are in the Congress and BJP. "Everybody has their own political views. I can't comment on their decisions or views," said he, adding he wasn't even looking for his extended family's approval. "I take my own decisions. There is no question of (family) supporting or not supporting," he told Business Standard.