Kejriwal with Manish Sisodia Kejriwal with Manish Sisodia

After the drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), it seems, is falling like a pack of cards with prominent faces of the party abandoning its chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is now left with his old guard. The party is trying its best to regain ground in the Capital, where its MLAs are holding a series of 'mohalla sabhas' to connect with the aam aadmi.

A day before AAP is to hold its three-day national executive meeting in the national Capital, activist-turned-politician Anjali Damani resigned from the party on Thursday. Later in the evening, she withdrew her resignation. The whole controversy comes at a crucial time as Maharashtra is due for the Assembly elections this year.

In the recent past, a host of popular leaders, including Shazia Ilmi, Captain Gopinath and Madhu Bhaduri, left the party saying the AAP has moved away from its original ideology. Yogendra Yadav has offered resignation from party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC).

AAP sources said many leaders are leaving the party due to 'autocratic' nature of Kejriwal. "Before Delhi elections, Kejriwalused to take all the decisions after consensus from the PAC. But after winning in the Capital, he took decisions without consulting us, sometimes even going against the PAC. Many leaders were disgruntled due to such behaviour," said a PAC member on condition of anonymity.

But now the party leaders have focused all their energies on regaining ground in Delhi. All AAP MLAs have been directed to hold mohalla sabhas in their constituency. The party even organised a special session for its MLAs to train them for the sabhas. AAP MLAs are meeting people and asking them about how to spend the Rs 4 crore allotted as the MLA local area development (MLALAD) funds.

Party leaders said this was a part of their original promise of bringing Swaraj or self-rule to people. "We are certain that people still have faith on us. This is for the first time that any political party is going back to them after winning. We are expecting that all this will help us positively in the re-elections in Delhi," said AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.

AAP MLAs claimed that by conducting these meetings and talking to people, they are now at a better position to understand the problems in their constituencies. "We are going back to people and talking to them. We are asking them about how they want us to spend the MLA fund. The motto of our party is to bring Swaraj and the mohalla sabhas are a part of our poll promises," said Tripathi. AAP MLA Bandana Kumari said she has been conducting mohalla sabhas. "People are giving us positive response...I am certain that if re-election is held, people will support our party whole-heartedly."