AAP names Amit Palekar as its CM candidate in Goa

In Goa, Amiit Palekar will be AAP face for the chief minister. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal  on Wednesday announced his name in Panaji. Lawer and social worker Palekar  is from the OBC Bhandari community, which accounts for about 35 per cent of Goa's population. He was recently in the news for his hunger strike to protest illegal construction at an Old Goa heritage site. He  joined AAP in October last year. He will be the party's candidate from the St Cruz Assembly constituency currently represented by the BJP.

"Goa wants a change and AAP has been getting a tremendous response in the coastal state. People are impressed with the Delhi model of governance,"  Kejriwal said. He added that this time, the party has given tickets to fresh faces across the state. Kejriwal said the party had chosen a "honest man" as the face of its campaign in the coastal state. He also said that they had picked a person well known for his welfare work in the community. Countering criticism that the party was resorting to caste politics, he said they were only "correcting" the politics over caste by other parties. The AAP has announced that it will contest all 40 seats in Goa in the February 14 polls. Apart from the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Shiv Sena are also in the contest this time.