Kejriwal will reach out to AAP cadre to lift sagging fortunes
In an effort to restructure and re-energise the party cadre at the grassroots, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal will soon visit all 70 assembly segments and engage with workers.
Kejriwal on Sunday night announced the decision at the party’s state-level meet convened to launch the ‘mera booth, sabse majboot’ initiative.
“All mandal adhyaksh (polling station in-charge) should appoint kshetriya adhyaksha (booth in-charge) over the next 10 days. Will visit and meet party workers in each assembly...I can cover 3-4 assembly seats in a day,” he told the gathering.
He spoke about many issues, including corruption allegations levelled against him, his cabinet colleagues and party funding.
The party that caught the imagination of people due to its ‘alternative’ brand of politics and electoral success in a short span of four years has witnessed a dip in its fortunes over the past few months, with its fallout raising questions even over its future and existence.
If the electoral setback in the Punjab and Goa assembly and Delhi MCD elections was not enough, the party has been mired in controversy over corruption allegations by sacked water minister Kapil Mishra against Kejriwal and the party leadership.
In damage-control mode, after a fortnight-long exercise to review the loss in the municipal elections, the party has decided to go back to the grassroots and strengthen its volunteers — once considered the backbone of AAP that swept the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015.
The party has decided to revamp itself at the booth level. Workers in charge of polling stations will appoint new booth in-charges, who will appoint one booth representative responsible for every 25 households.
“The only way we can take on them (opponents) is through a strong organisation. It will happen if we strengthen our booth in-charges. They will now be called khsetriya adhyaksh,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal will hold talks with villagers in outer Delhi in connection with the implementation of Delhi Development Authority’s land pooling policy.
Removing the final bottleneck in way of the implementation of the plan, the government last week notified 95 rural villages as development areas.
AAP (Delhi) convener Gopal Rai told reporters that Kejriwal will hold talks with villagers in Matiala and Najafgarh on May 25.