AAP eyes UP, to contest panchayat polls this year

Lucknow: Buoyed by its decisive victory in the Delhi assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to turn its focus on Uttar Pradesh as it outlined

Lucknow: Buoyed by its decisive victory in the Delhi assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to turn its focus on Uttar Pradesh as it outlined its plans on Sunday to recruit 25 lakh members in the politically crucial state, and contest the panchayat polls later this year.

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AAP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said party workers would visit 1.07 lakh villages in the state over the next three months, and gather public opinion on issues that affect people.

“The feedback will be submitted to Arvind Kejriwal after three months,” Singh said.

He said the Kejriwal-led party planned to make 25 lakh members in the state and, within a month, 5,000 posters of the party would be put up in every assembly constituency.

The membership drive will be held from Monday till March 22 in over 12,000 wards in various cities across the state.

“AAP will contest the panchayat elections [likely in October-November] in UP,” he announced.

However, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma dismissed the claims made by the AAP, saying the party had talked about expanding in the past as well.

Speaking to reporters in Firozabad, Sharma said: “They [AAP] have been talking about expansion for a long time. Last time, when they had formed the government in Delhi, they had also talked about expansion [in UP].There will be no loss for the BJP. All political parties are against the BJP. Whatever the splitting of votes takes place, it will be of other parties, and not of the BJP.”

The renewed focus to diversify the AAP across the country comes nearly two weeks after the party, founded in 2012, registered a decisive win in the Delhi assembly elections for a third consecutive term.

After its win in Delhi five years ago, the AAP had made moves to expand nationally, but did not find much base.

For UP, the AAP spokesperson said, five ministers with origins in the state have been made ministers in Delhi government. “They will play a key role in various campaigns by the party,” he added.

Hitting out at the Yogi Adtiyanath government in the state, Singh claimed that law and order had ceased to exist in Uttar Pradesh and the youth was disappointed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Chief minister Adityanath had campaigned for the BJP, in the run-up to the Delhi election.

“The statements made by Adityanath and the action on anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protesters are a sign of an unsuccessful chief minister,” Singh said.

“The BJP is a party with a bad mentality and is known for its bad remarks. The people have defeated BJP’s politics of hatred and given a thumbs up to Kejriwal’s politics of love,” Singh said, adding that the BJP was raising “all the unreal issues” while hiding the issue of inflation.

“People are tired of politics of religion,” he said, stressing that AAP would focus on farmers’ problems.

Singh alleged that hooliganism and anarchy were at its peak in the state and attempts were being made under the present dispensation to “harm” democracy.

“All sections of society are fed up with this government. But the CM is busy patting his back and talking falsely about development,” he charged, adding only the AAP could provide a clean governance.

The party, which is eying the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2022, said it would seek votes in the name of Delhi government’s “development model”, which, Singh asserted, was better than the BJP’s “Gujarat model”.

“We have started making ground in the politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh. We are sure the 2022 election will be contested on the development agenda and we will seek votes in the name of Delhi’s development model,” Singh said.

“The Delhi assembly election has proved people are discarding politics of hatred and preferring politics of development,” he said. “In Delhi, 15 MLAs belong to UP and they will be given the responsibility of strengthening the party’s base.”