The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday appointed senior leader Valmiki Naik as the president of the party’s Goa unit.
In a statement, the party said its Political Affairs Committee appointed new office bearers for Goa, including Gerson Gomes as state working president, and Prashant Naik and Sandesh Teleikar Dessai as state organisation secretary and state senior vice-president, respectively.
In a post on X, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Naik and other office bearers. “Goa wants clean politics, jobs for youth and an end to corruption and gundaraj. The people are looking to you for real change,” the post said.
The appointment of the new AAP chief in Goa comes after advocate Amit Palekar was removed from the post last month, following the party’s dismal performance in the zilla panchayat polls. Last Monday, Palekar resigned from AAP, claiming the manner in which he was relieved from the post of president was “unacceptable” and that he was “singled out” for the election performance. In the run-up to polls, Palekar advocated for an alliance with Opposition parties and had been at odds with the party’s national leadership on the issue.
Three more office-bearers of AAP Goa, state general secretary (organisation), Shrikrishna Parab; youth wing president Rohan Naik; and youth wing’s vice president Chetan Kamat, had also announced their exit from the party last Monday.
AAP, which decided to contest solo and opted against an alliance with the Congress and other Opposition parties, won just a single seat in Colva by a slender margin.
On Sunday, after his elevation as the state president, Valmiki Naik told The Indian Express, “There are always ups and downs in any party. I have been with the party for over 13 years, and in that time, it could not be said that I was never disappointed, hurt or disagreed with some of the decisions. I never left the party, because I see AAP as a hope for Goa and for India. So, if there are any issues, I have always taken them up internally, and they have been addressed by the party… I wished that all the people who had any issues with the decision-making…resolved them internally.”
Story continues below this ad
“Today, I see AAP and our style of people-focused governance and corruption-free politics as an urgent necessity for Goa and the country,” he said.
Naik, a founding member of AAP, has been with the party since its inception and was part of the India Against Corruption movement. He was part of the party’s National Council and is currently a national spokesperson. In AAP Goa, he has held several organisational roles in the party, including the posts of General Secretary and working president.
