New Delhi, April 12 With the coronavirus crisis looming large over the country, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to continue as the National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party.
The founding leader of the party is already serving an extended second term as the national Convenor, which was supposed to end in April 2019.
In December 2018 at its seventh National Council meeting, the AAP had decided to extend the term of its National Executive, including the post of the national Convenor, till April 2020 due to Lok Sabha and Delhi Assembly polls. However, amid the coronavirus outbreak, any meeting for electing the party's highest executive body is not possible.
Speaking to , Gopal Rai, a member of the National Executive said the party will not be holding any meeting due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"The party and the government are focusing on the Coronavirus crisis, as of now. For the election of National Convenor, a meeting of National Executive has to be called. I think, until the infection outbreak is there, we will have to postpone the meeting," Rai, also Delhi Cabinet Minister, said.
The party has not decided to extend the term of the members further, as of now. "There has been no talk about any such thing in the party. We will be thinking about all this after the (coronavirus) crisis is over," he said.
Even though the party's constitution does not allow for a third consecutive term, Kejriwal was given the extension for one more year due to the two major elections.
Kejriwal has been the National Convener of the party since its formation in November 2012.
"No member will hold the same post as an office bearer for more than two consecutive terms of three years each," reads the party constitution.
The internal elections will be interesting this time as either the party will need to change its constitution or will have to elect someone else to the post.
Speaking to , a party leader, demanding anonymity, said the party is happy under the leadership of Kejriwal.
"The constitution may have limitations on the term extension. But we don't see anyone better than Kejriwal for the post. The party can think about amending the constitution, if required. Kejriwal has been our leader since the beginning and we have seen the growth of the party under him. We won two elections back to back in Delhi with a historic mandate under his leadership," the leader said.
The AAP National Executive met on 27 April, 2016 and unanimously elected Kejriwal as the National Convenor of the party for a second term. The term was to end in April, 2019, but was extended due to the general elections held between March and May, 2019.
However, with one year extension, it was scheduled to end this month.
The National Executive is the highest executive body of the party.
As per the party, the National Executive shall comprise of not more than 30 members selected by consensus from among the active members of the party. It has one representative from each state.
Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisoidia, Preeti Sharma Menon, Atishi, Dinesh Vaghela, Sadhu Singh, Ashish Talwar, Bhagwant Mann, Rajendra Pal Gautam, and Imran Hussain are the members of the National Executive, as per the AAP.
( With inputs from IANS )