Eligible for national party status, AAP to hold national council meet next week

All 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, MLAs and party representatives from Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and other states are also likely to attend the meeting.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is now eligible for national party status, will organise its national council meeting on December 18 with an eye on upcoming state elections as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The national council is one of the most important organisational structures of the party, and consists of senior leaders from across all units, a senior party official said.

AAP supporters celebrate after winning the MCD lections 2022 at AAP headquarters in New Delhi on December 7. (HT Photo)

The meeting is likely to be held at a farmhouse in Delhi and may be addressed by AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and other senior leaders of the party. All 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, MLAs and party representatives from Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and other states are also likely to attend the meeting.

The national council meeting comes a few days after the AAP wrested control of the politically significant Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), one of the largest municipal corporations in the world comprising 250 wards. The AAP has come to power in the MCD for the first time, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which ruled the MCD for 15 consecutive years. It also won 13% vote share and five seats in the recently held Gujarat election, filling the eligibility criteria to become a national party. The party, however, could not win any seats in the Himachal Pradesh election, and its vote share in the hill state was also largely negligible.

Buoyed by its Gujarat performance, the AAP is confident of its political prospects in the near future. “After getting a thumping majority in Punjab, AAP got 13% votes in Gujarat. Over 4 million people voted for the AAP in Gujarat, indicating that the people are impressed with the governance model of Arvind Kejriwal and want to give AAP an opportunity. The Delhi model is popular across the country and people look at AAP with admiration and respect,” said another senior AAP official, asking not to be named.

The official quoted above said that the meeting will start in the morning and may continue till the evening. “The plan national expansion is likely to be discussed in the meeting, especially taking the Arvind Kejriwal model of governance to other states,” he said.

Since forming the government in Delhi in 2015, the AAP has claimed to transform the Capital’s government schools and improved the delivery of health services in Delhi government-run hospitals, besides introducing various welfare schemes such as free electricity, water, free bus rides for women, etc. All of this comprises the Delhi model of governance, which the AAP hard sells everywhere. The same model was used by the party to seek votes in Punjab as well as in Gujarat. While it worked well in Punjab, results were below expectations in Gujarat.

The AAP’s last national council meeting was held on January 29 last year. In the meeting, AAP passed resolutions extending tenures for the posts of national convenor and secretary from three years to five years, and removed the provision prohibiting the re-election of the same person in these posts for more than two consecutive terms. Following this, in September 2021, Arvind Kejriwal was re-elected AAP national convenor, the top post in the party. Pankaj Gupta was re-elected party secretary and Rajya Sabha member ND Gupta, treasurer.