The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday removed Kumar Vishwas as party in-charge for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections. AAP national spokesperson Ashutosh said that Vishwas was being not able to “devote” time in the state. Vishwas has been replaced by senior leader Dipak Bajpai for the post.

“Deepak Bajpai will be the in-charge of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan. Kumar Vishwas was not able to devote time for election preparations due to his preoccupations,”AAP national spokesperson Ashutosh said. He said AAP would contest in all the assembly constituencies in Rajasthan. Bajpai will prepare the list of candidates for the polls in the state and it will be finalised by the political affairs committee of the party, he said.

Vishwas has had a rocky relationship in recent times with the AAP leadership and his removal as party’s Rajasthan in-charge has only led to further speculations of widening rift between him and party’s senior leadership. Recently, he had showed his disapproval after party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal issued an apology to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia.

On March 16, a day after Kejriwal tendered his apology to Majithia, Vishwas had lashed out on Twitter: “I have been regularly dropping my shows to attend several court hearings related to 2013, 2014 and 2015 poll campaigns without any legal assistance from AAP. Another one pending tomorrow and I (have) been again engaging my personal lawyers for this. Will carry on this fight. Jai Hind.”

The assembly elections in Rajasthan are due later this year. After party’s drubbing in Gujarat, Punjab and Goa, the elections in Rajasthan is very crucial for the Aam Aadmi Party.