Aam Aadmi Party has announced that it will contest on all 40 seats in Goa. The state is bound to the election next year. Those who know the politics of AAP are not surprised. Goa fits the AAP scheme of “minimum work, maximum publicity”. Just like Delhi, Goa is a small, urbanised and a rich state. With the high penetration of internet, the election campaign can easily be managed with the help of a fleet of social media warriors, who sitting inside the air-conditioned cabinet, create the trends and Photoshop the information on social media to suit their candidates. Moreover, the affluent vulnerable youth can be manipulated with keywords like “new type of politics”. In fact, the party has already started doing the same by putting posters which announce that the Goa is “ready for a political revolution”.The other not so surprising but important news which is going round the circle is the probable nomination of Rajdeep Sardesai as AAP chief ministerial candidate for Goa.

Right from the inception of AAP, opportunist journalists had a special inclination towards the party. The joining and elevation of the likes of Manish Sisodia, Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan in the party ascertain the fact. Rajdeep Sardesai has been the fan boy of AAP supremo. In his blog on CNN-IBN in 2013, while comparing Rahul with Kejriwal, Rajdeep writes “Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi are both youthful public figures in their 40s. Sadly, that’s where the comparisons end. One is the story of middle-class aspiration, the other of elite entitlement.” Explicitly stating the support of main stream media to Kejriwal, Rajdeep Sardesai writes, “If Rahul has ‘Ma’ (mother) by his side, Kejriwal has the ‘media’.” Readers can access the blog at below link :

http://www.news18.com/…/arvind-kejriwal-aap-success-has-man…

The contribution of Rajdeep Sardesai in the “branding of Kejriwal” is colossal. His covert and overt reporting of AAP being the next big thing in politics and Kejriwal as the politician next door influenced the public opinion majorly. In the month-on-month election tracker for 2014 general elections, Sardesai and their psephologists used to discuss endlessly reasons and effects of the surge in the vote share of Aam Aadmi party in their exit poll inside CNN-IBN studio. They virtually projected Arvind Kejriwal as PM candidate only next to Modi on the basis of their forged sample surveys.

The relationship between Aam Aadmi party and Rajdeep Sardesai is symbiotic. When Rajdeep was in the midst of a great backlash from Indians due to his infamous fight with the crowd at Madison square, the AAP and their supporters came to his rescue. The Aam Aadmi Party officially called it an attack on free press and freedom of speech. AAP supporters continuously trended ‪#‎IstandwithRajdeep for days and portrayed him as a victim of right-wing extremism.

However, AAP didn’t give Rajdeep Sardesai enough credit which he was due for. When Arvind Kejriwal was on a roll, making baseless allegations against Ambanis over gas pricing disputes and Black money issue, Rajdeep covered the story extensively in his widely-watched prime time show. Reliance Industries who already had a stake in News 18 didn’t like the channel going haywire. They bought controlling stocks in the network which saw the ouster of Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife from the very channel, they had founded. This was an irreversible damage to Rajdeep’s career and reputation. AAP owes it to Rajdeep Sardesai and making him a CM candidate will be the best thing which AAP can do for him.

The speculation took center stage couple of days back when Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh attended a rally of Kejriwal in Panjim, Goa.

Rajdeep later posted a series of tweets raising various issues of the state. He also gave a lot of contradictory statements related to his CM candidature. Refereeing to his Goan origin, he said that though he was born in Gujarat, brought up in Mumbai and worked in Delhi, he is always a Goan by heart. Clearly indicating his aspirations, he said if the people of Goa asks him to become the Chief Minister of the state, he is ready for it.

Quite opposite to what an Aam Aadmi desires, Aam Aadmi Party looks for a confrontational, manipulative, imposturous and confident liar as a Chief Ministerial candidate. Because Mr. Kejriwal can’t be the Chief Minister of every state, AAP needs Rajdeep Sardesai as much as he needs AAP.

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