AAP to campaign on all seats, says there’s anti-incumbency

NEWDELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has directed its volunteers in Gujarat to campaign against the ruling BJP, even in the seats the party is not contesting, its leaders said on Saturday.

Last year, the party decided to contest the assembly elections in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state as the principal challenger to the ruling party like it did in Punjab. It had expected that a good showing in Gujarat would catapult it to the national political arena. But the losses earlier this year in the Delhi municipal polls and Goa assembly elections forced AAP to abandon its plan and focus on governing Delhi.

“These six months could have made a lot of difference to our numbers,” senior AAP leader and state in charge Gopal Rai said, referring to the period between the party abandoning the Gujarat plan and then announcing in September that it would contest the polls, but on a few seats. “We will campaign against the BJP everywhere. There is strong anti-incumbency against the ruling party at the grassroots level,” Rai said.

The AAP, which has adopted a wait and watch strategy in Gujarat, has only declared 11 candidates so far for the election. With just 10 days left for the nominations for the first phase to close, the party is still keeping its cards close to its chest. A party leader confirmed that the AAP will contest under 50 seats in the 182 member assembly, while others said the political affairs committee, the highest decision-making body, had not decided on the final count yet.