The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided not to contest the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls to be held in early 2017. The decision, party leaders believe, will allow them to focus on the Punjab and Goa assembly elections, which are expected to take place around the same time.
Formed less than four years ago, AAP has a limited number of political leaders who are known faces across UP. While Delhi chief minister and party national convener Arvind Kejriwal contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Varanasi against Narendra Modi, he will focus on the party’s campaign in Punjab first and then Goa — two states where the party’s internal surveys show it can pose a challenge to the incumbent governments unlike UP, sources said. Other senior leaders would also be deployed to campaign in the two states while the party will work on first building a cadre in UP.
“AAP will contest the local bodies’ elections instead. We have started building the party organisation in UP. While other parties are focusing on assembly polls, aiming for municipal elections will give us a first-mover advantage,” Sanjay Singh, AAP’s UP in-charge, said. The party is eyeing gains in 2019 in the Lok Sabha elections for which it needs a strong organisation on the ground.
The decision was announced to the party’s office-bearers in the state at a closed-door meeting at party headquarters here on Wednesday, an AAP leader who attended the meeting said. The day-long session was attended by party officials from each of UP’s 75 districts, zonal conveners and observers and central leaders in-charge of UP.
{{/usCountry}}The decision was announced to the party’s office-bearers in the state at a closed-door meeting at party headquarters here on Wednesday, an AAP leader who attended the meeting said. The day-long session was attended by party officials from each of UP’s 75 districts, zonal conveners and observers and central leaders in-charge of UP.
{{/usCountry}}While in Punjab and Goa the AAP has launched pre-poll campaigns, it is still building the party organisation in UP. In a similar day-long session on July 20, AAP had asked its UP leaders to appoint party officials at district and municipal ward level and complete the exercise by the end of August. At Wednesday’s meeting, the deadline was extended to October 15.