Why this arrest affects AAP= What Singh means to party

The arrest of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh is likely to create a leadership void in the party. The 51-year-old Singh is the third top AAP leader to be jailed after former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former minister Satyendar Jain, and at the national level, especially, the party is likely to feel his absence.

- Alok KN Mishra

The AAP is contesting the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh and needs leaders who can energise workers and hold a crowd. The party is also busy managing interparty dynamics in INDIA, the grouping of Opposition parties, and could do with someone who has connections across the political spectrum.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Singh on Wednesday in connection with the agency's investigation into alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi excise policy.

Singh has been at the forefront of the party's efforts at both attack and defence. "Whenever AAP faced a crisis, such as during the arrest of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain or when the Centre promulgated an ordinance to nullify the Supreme Court's order giving control of Delhi's bureaucracy to the Arvind Kejriwal government, Sanjay Singh strongly defended the party from streets to the Parliament," said a party leader who asked not to be named.