Lucknow, March 17 : A leadership crisis within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Uttar Pradesh has forced it not to contest the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

According to party sources, the decision has been taken since senior AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who is in charge of the state, is in jail since October last year on money laundering charges and in his absence, it was felt that the campaign would not be possible.

'Sanjay Singh has been focusing on UP since the past three to four years and knows all that is needed for electoral politics. With his being in jail, there is no other leader who can fill the vacuum, select candidates, design the campaign and take part in electioneering. Rather than floundering in the field, it has been decided that we will not contest the polls in UP this time,' said a party functionary, Nadeem Ashraf.

He further said, 'Sanjay Singh had been working relentlessly in UP and without him, it would not be possible to contest elections here. Instead, our workers will either go to Delhi or Punjab or other states to campaign for the party or will work for INDIA bloc candidates here.'

Another factor that has made AAP back away from contesting elections in UP is the fact that the main INDIA constituents in UP -- the Samajwadi Party and Congress -- have not even made an effort to involve AAP in seat sharing talks. 'Since both the INDIA parties have announced their candidates in UP , there is no point in contesting the polls and damaging the opposition,' the AAP leader said.

/IANS