AAP TO CONTEST ELECTIONS IN SIX STATES OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that his party will contest elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat over the next two years — a decision that indicated another attempt to expand its national footprint.
This is the second time the AAP is undertaking such an exercise — after getting little success, except in Punjab where it is the main opposition party in the state assembly — between 2015 and 2017.
“People across the country are talking about the good governance of the AAP in Delhi. Across the country, people want welfare schemes and subsidies on amenities such as power and water, and good schools and hospitals like the ones in Delhi. We need to reach out to them. For that, we need to build up a strong organisation… In the next two years, our party will contest elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat,” said Kejriwal at the national council meeting of the party.
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister and (Aam Aadmi Party AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that his party will contest elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat over the next two years -- a decision that indicated another attempt to expand its national footprint.
This is the second time the AAP is undertaking such an exercise -- after getting little success, except in Punjab where it is the main opposition party in the state assembly -- between 2015 and 2017.
“People across the country are talking about the good governance of the AAP in Delhi. Across the country, people want welfare schemes and subsidies on amenities such as power and water, and good schools and hospitals like the ones in Delhi. We need to reach out to them. For that, we need to build up a strong organisation… In the next two years, our party will contest elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat,” said Kejriwal at the national council meeting of the party.
Later, deputy CM and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said the party will have as its poll plank in these states issues such as education, health care, power and water subsidies, welfare schemes, and good governance.
Since 2014, the AAP has contested assembly elections in Punjab, Goa, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Telangana, Haryana and Maharashtra.
However, beyond Delhi, the party has succeeded in winning assembly seats only in Punjab (20 seats out of 117) in 2017.
Punjab is also the only state where the AAP has won Lok Sabha seats – four in 2014 and one in 2019. Last year, AAP registered its maiden win in the Goa zilla panchayat elections -- with Hanzel Fernandes winning the Benaulim seat in South Goa.
Kejriwal’s announcement regarding contesting polls in six states in the next two years comes at a time when the party is also preparing for the 2022 municipal polls in Delhi. Currently, all three municipal corporations in Delhi are held by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The CM also highlighted the work done by the government in managing the Covid pandemic.
“The past one year was very difficult. In Delhi, the AAP government had decided at the very beginning that they would never let the Covid-19 issue get politicised. In Delhi, we faced the toughest challenges for any city in the world. On November 11, Delhi witnessed more than 8,500 cases a day. No city in the world has been through such a situation. But, still, we had 7,000 vacant beds, because of our home isolation model. Our Covid management work is being appreciated across the world…,” he said.
Experts said the move indicated the AAP was trying to get national party status.
“The AAP is aiming to upgrade its standing. The announcement of contesting elections in Uttar Pradesh specifically is surprising but a smart electoral decision. The opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh are not in a good shape, providing AAP much-needed toehold to catapult itself into the larger national political picture. In the next two years, if the party manages to win seats and garner a significant vote share in the six states and succeed in making inroads into a few more, it will be in a better position ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” said Praveen Rai, political analysts with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).
The BJP and the Congress said the AAP should prioritise ensuring good governance in Delhi before spreading its wings beyond the state.
Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, BJP MLA and leader of opposition in Delhi assembly, said: “Every political party has the right to contest polls. However, Kejriwal should first ensure good work in Delhi. The public transport is in a bad shape, so is the water supply network and air quality.”
Mudit Agarwal, vice-president of Delhi Congress, said: “The AAP government is failing in Delhi and Kejriwal should focus on that before anything else. Also, in the other states, the AAP is misleading people about governance in Delhi.”