Aam Aadmi Party
SEATS HELD IN THE 2017-22 ASSEMBLY: ZERO
Central political issues
Theaamaadmiparty’s(aap) campaign in Gujarat is no different from that elsewhere in India: That the Congress and the BJP are mirror images of each other and only the AAP has the courage to raise real issues. The party’s chief ministerial candidate, Isudan Gadhvi, says: “Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, without increasing any taxes on the people of the city, has been able to prove that one can have a quality life without paying expensive taxes. I believe in the Delhi model.”
Promises made
A monthly allowance of ~1,000 to all women above 18, free electricity up to 300 units to each family, ~3,000 per month to each unemployed youth, farm loan waiver of up to ~2 lakh, and day-time electricity for irrigation to cultivators are among the “guarantees” promised by the AAP. “If the AAP comes to power in Gujarat, all the cases related to movements like the Kisan movement, Patidar movement, Dalit movement and other movements will be withdrawn,” said Kejriwal while campaigning. He has also promised to restore the old pension scheme in Gujarat.
Strategies employed
The AAP’S problem in Gujarat is: It has to prove it is neither like the BJP nor like the Congress. In trying to catch the imagination of the people, it launched a completely new face as its face for chief minister: A former journalist. Its outreach strategy has two parts — reaching out to the people to establish what it stands for via its Parivartan Yatras or mass contact; and popularising programmes like free education and free health care launched in Delhi and Punjab, to tell voters what they should expect if they vote the AAP.