AAP to contest 50 seats in Guj

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to confine itself to 50 seats in the Gujarat assembly elections and stay away from next month’s Himachal Pradesh polls, party leaders associated with the two states said on Wednesday.

The AAP has so far declared 21 seats from where it will field candidates in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

“We will fight the election in 50 seats or so,” a party leader from Gujarat told HT.

The party brass also decided to stay away from the Himachal polls in November. “We have limited resources and the party has taken a decision at this stage to not contest the state polls,” a central leader, involved with party affairs in Himachal, said.

The party has been facing a fund crunch that has limited its ability to spend on election campaigns. Led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP is attempting to expand its footprint in BJP-stronghold Gujarat after dismal results in the February-March elections in Goa and Punjab. The party did not win a single seat in Goa and finished a distant second in Pun- jab, where it hoped to form the government. After the poor show in Goa and the Delhi municipal polls in May, the party shelved plans for a grand campaign in the western state.

The party leadership even thought of skipping the Gujarat polls, triggering resistance from the state unit.

“Volunteers felt they were working for four years to build the party in Gujarat and it must fight the elections,” a party leader had earlier said, announcing the party’s decision to contest. Election dates have not yet been announced but will be held in December.